Disclaimer - I don't, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or its Intellectual Property. This is all just so that I can take my maladaptive daydreaming and turn it into something so that it does not ruin the rest of my day.
DoorMan #36
Wakanda[January 22, 2008]
–Shuri Udaku–
Spoofing the reading for her personal single-person jet, she ordered it to leave Wakanda airspace and wait for her. In the meantime, she looked at the large red warning flashing on the screen, with her finger hovering above the Yes sign.
It was a huge step, there was no coming back after this. It was all her weapons research, hidden and public that will be deleted from Wakanda's databases, the ones that most of Wakanda had no idea about. It also had data about the serum she made and ingested.
She still remembered the experience. She was suspended in the best possible nutrient solution she had made, figuring that anything could be better than being buried in the soil. She had never really expected to wake up right in front of a very irate Bast, who was annoyed that she had not taken the traditional route.
Somehow, in that moment, she forgot that she was talking with a Goddess and had ended up arguing with her Patron God for who knows how long about how traditions can be discarded in favour of newer ever changing traditions, the usual ones she had with her Baba before she found out about his actions.
In the end, Bast agreed to her becoming the Black Panther, in exchange for a single guarantee. The utter destruction of the serum, if there was any left, and all the data in it. She made her vow it, which she found was somehow binding. According to Bast, the serum made her vastly stronger than a normal Black Panther but also gave her something extra.
That extra was upto her to figure out but honestly, even these powers were more than enough. She had done some preliminary testing and so far, she was ten times as strong as T'Challa and even impervious to low calibre bullets, with the sting being negligible.
She did not have time for more testing as she sighed and pressed her finger on the screen, the action more symbolic as she could have just as easily given the order with a twitch of her finger since the motion sensors in her personal Lab were the most sensitive.
She turned around, her white lab coat shredding as she donned her most recent advanced nanite uniform, glittering in blue and purple as she incorporated every single piece of advanced tech she could, all in hopes that T'Challa would be safe but for now, it worked very well for her as well.
The doors slid open as she approached it, not even breaking stride as she saw the same Dora Milaje, looking conflicted, waiting for her. She sneered, as expected of the senile old people, and with a single hop, traversed the entire hallway, with a mixed use of her suit as well as her powers.
"My Princess!" She ignored the Dora Milaje as she arrived at the Throne Room in record time. She dismissed the HUD as her face mask slid off, revealing her face to the two Guards at the Door who lowered their spears after seeing her face. One of them went inside to announce her arrival and the other one looked at her with barely disguised awe and wariness.
"The King will see you now." The other guard announced and she took a deep breath, steel her her nerves and walked into the room, head held high as she maintained eye contact with King T'Chaka, who eyed her with the same wariness as he did the J'abari a scant few years ago.
"Dear Council of Wakanda, I am sure you have already heard my orders, as an emissary of Bast. If you wish for me to repeat it in a more formal setting, then –"
"There is no need for that, Princess Shuri. We have already heeded the orders of Bast's chosen. The purpose of this meeting is something we are still unaware of. If we can proceed with that, instead of digging up past actions, that will be better." The River Tribe Leader stated and she agreed with that.
She nodded, "Very well. As I am sure you all know, I have now become Bast's chosen, a second Black Panther, while my brother has already received Bast's blessing. This is unprecedented and I believe, a sign for the tumultuous future to come. To make sure that Wakanda comes out on top from the uncertain future, I wish to leave Wakanda to prepare."
Murmurs and whispers broke out from the council as she looked at the now bickering elders. They knew they had no power over her and the only one whose advice she might listen to was the one person she had no respect for anymore. So, this was more or less just a formality, to inform them that she was leaving and they could not do anything about it.
"Silence!" Eventually, it all became too much as the King waved at the Dora Milaje to bang their spears on the ground, silencing the entire Council.
"Princess Shuri, we have heard your request and grant it to you. Please, go ahead and fulfill Bast's wishes. This nation thanks you for that."
She nodded and left with an emotionless face, not caring one bit about bidding farewell to her father. The way he had handled the entire conversation with her and his refusal to stop the program had grated on her.
The doors opened and she rounded to the corner and lazily raised an arm, to stop a punch from her dear brother, T'Challa. Lightly shoving him back, she watched as he jumped a rather long distance to offset the force behind her light shove. She really needed some combat training to get her powers under control but this was her brother, he would be fine with a light shove.
"Whoa! That was….You've become really strong. Stronger than me, how?" T'Challa asked as he began walking alongside her. She was on her way to the lab, to give some last minute instructions to the faculty at the Royal Lab for the maintenance of some of the national security stuff that she handled on her own.
She side eyed T'Challa and smugly replied, "It's because I am better than you. Simple as that."
"Oof, you hurt me, Shuri. Now, I know you have to leave and I know you won't tell me, neither will Baba but before leaving, why not one last spar with your brother? You know you have always wanted to bash my face in when I won every single time."
She grit her teeth and glared at him, making him narrow his eyes. "Whoa, my instincts are screaming at me, Shuri. Well, shall we?"
She wordlessly complied though, she might have shoved him lightly, once or twice.
—-
She stood, victorious, as her brother laid, absolutely exhausted, his entire body bruised from her punches. Rolling her eyes, she walked over to her brother, and nudged him with her leg as he groaned in pain. She was glad that there was no audience for this fight, otherwise her brother's prestige would have plummeted by now.
He was famous for being undefeated, even without the Black Panther's enhancements.
"So, how does defeat taste?"
"Terrible." T'Challa glared at her as she lifted him up effortlessly.
At Least she figured out how to pull her punches in this fight.
T'Challa panted as he looked at her, "Do you really have to leave?"
The smile left her face as she looked over the horizon, into the giant forest that greeted her eyes from the personal sparring ring of the Black Panther, "Yeah. I have to. I need some space from Wakanda and also I have some really important stuff to do and some really important people to meet in the outside world."
"More important than family?"
"More important for Wakanda's safety."
"Ah, can't beat that excuse now. Well, Stay safe, and don't hesitate to call me, okay?" T'Challa hugged her and she did so as well, a little bit harder than usual.
"Ah, Shuri, you're suffocating me." T'Challa made fun of her and in return, received a push that deposited him right on the pillar.
"Bye!" She waved her hand as the Black Panther suit assembled around her, shredding all her existing clothing, save for her underwear, as she jumped off the ledge and flew straight up, the thrusters in the suit making sure that she rocketed straight up, releasing a sonic boom in the process.
Oh, how she loved Vibranium. Enough energy to power entire cities, all in the size of a peanut.
The shield around Wakanda flickered as she passed through the small section that was deactivated on her arrival, and continued to rocket up, in stealth mode, until she reached High Earth orbit and turned around to see the blue rock she was from.
Shaking her head, she set the target to Seattle as her suit's repulsors kicked in, surpassing Mach 4 in speed.
She had a Materials Science class to take and a super powered teenager even stronger than her to meet. A feed opened up, showing Colin's last known sighting to be in his apartment building.
Time for a second meeting.
___xx___
Earthen Bachelor Pad, Seattle
–Colin Baxter–
He was in the middle of choosing whether to take his secondary enchanted clothes to LA or leave them in the Sanctum since they were just a backup Orange onesie just in case he damaged the original enchantment when a shiver ran down his spine.
It felt like he had been locked on to by something or someone and they were coming for him.
"Jin'Ya?" He shouted mentally, hoping that it was just a fluke and not his instincts acting up.
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