"So that's the gist of the situation right now." I grimaced, keeping my eyes fixed on the distance. The Skrulls had moved deeper into the woods, apparently waiting for someone. The extraction point they mentioned didn't seem far, and I'd managed to get a decent look at it.
"Aliens too… Jesus," Anna muttered.
"Haven't you heard about other races before as a practitioner?" Illyana asked.
"It's different in principle…" she mumbled before sighing. "Although I don't think it really changes our options. Either we go after these guys, or we try to flee the country on our own."
"True." My finger tapped absently against my arm. Still, I didn't remember Skrulls ever having anything to do with Wakanda. I remembered a couple timelines where they worked with Hydra, but Wakanda? No. I was pretty sure I was seeing the ripples of my own actions here.
What exactly had caused this chain of events, though, I had no idea.
"Can we alert them somehow?" Illyana chimed in. "Maybe send a note or something so we don't just leave them to get screwed."
"I'm not sure how many Skrulls are here. Them being shapeshifters means they could've infiltrated parts of the government already. I don't even know where we'd leave a note." I frowned.
Wakanda was advanced… but were they advanced enough to see through Skrull fuckery? I vaguely remembered some kind of device that could expose them, but hoping Wakanda just happened to have one felt like a stretch.
"Would they even believe us?" Anna said. "I mean, we're a bit more broad-minded than most people." She waved a hand between the three of us. "But aliens and demons aren't exactly things normal folks accept. Heck, I literally learned magic, and aliens still feel weird to me."
True…
Wakanda's technological advancement might actually work against us here. Magic was semi-believable to them with their own traditions, but aliens? Without proof, they'd probably laugh us out of the room.
I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Damned if we do and damned if we don't."
The chances of us getting caught in this mess were basically guaranteed, but we couldn't just let Hydra or the Skrulls walk away with vibranium.
"Maybe we get lucky with your power," Anna said, giving me a look of encouragement.
Illyana glanced between us, clearly confused, but didn't comment.
"Maybe… but I don't want to rely on it." I frowned. Hoping the gacha would bail me out every time things got tight wasn't a good habit. I turned to Illyana. "Can you fight? I really hope we won't have to, but it's looking more and more like we might."
Illyana straightened her shoulders, trying to look confident. "I've slain demons aplenty!"
She flicked her hand, and the massive yellow Soulsword burst into existence out of thin air. It was a pretty badass entrance, though the effect was completely ruined when Anna squealed and wrapped Illyana in another hug.
I snickered as Illyana's face turned bright red under the praise Anna heaped on her.
Still, that settled it.
I slipped off the Ring of the Bull and handed it to Anna.
"You sure?" she asked as she slid it onto her finger.
"I'm more of a speedster," I said. "I doubt most of them will be able to keep up with me. You'll need it to get in close and drain their powers."
"Do we go in swords blazing or…?" Illyana asked. "I mean, from what you said, it's mostly normies? And the Skrulls aren't that strong, right?"
"I could try to read their memories," Anna said. "I got a little better at that after learning from teacher."
"We'll try to be stealthy," I said. "Let Anna take the lead and see if she gets a chance."
Illyana pouted.
"But… if all else fails, sword time it is."
Illyana immediately perked up at that.
Anna and I both had to hide our chuckles.
I grabbed them both by the shoulders and teleported us out. I made sure we stayed hidden as I took a series of small jumps, carefully tracing where the extraction point should be. My novice stealth skill actually came in handy as I kept us tucked behind trees and brush.
The extraction point turned out to be a small, flattened stretch of grass deeper in the woods. A few nondescript crates were scattered around the clearing, and sitting in the center was a Quinjet.
The aircraft made the alliance obvious.
Well… maybe not a perfect alliance.
The clearing had clearly split itself into two sides. A group of Wakandans—who I was almost certain were Skrulls—stood around the crates. Across from them, a cluster of black-decked soldiers lingered near the jet. Neither side looked particularly fond of the other.
"Should I…?" Anna whispered as we crouched in a bush some distance away.
I shook my head, frowning. They were obviously waiting for something.
If this was where they planned to leave from, we might be able to catch all of them.
"We'll wait it out," I whispered.
—
Shuri hadn't felt this vexed in years.
There were very few things in the world she couldn't at least examine and begin to understand how to solve.
Unfortunately, solving idiocy was something even her mind struggled with.
The explosion on the new maglev train had turned into a massive headache. Ignoring the fact that one of Wakanda's key elements in its logistics network had suddenly gone kaput, the cause of the explosion had become a political nightmare for the tribes involved.
"Ugh…" Shuri pinched the bridge of her nose.
The Mining Tribe was furious that one of their key logistical routes had been destroyed. The Border Tribe was equally irritated that the explosion had disrupted several of their holographic projector systems. Now the two groups were snapping at each other like cats and dogs while trying to decide who to blame.
As if that wasn't enough, the Jabari had added their voices to the chorus, loudly pointing out how dangerous technology was.
God, those traditionalists. If they had their way, Wakanda would still be living with sticks and stones.
"Brooding still, Princess?" an older voice called.
"I am not." She rolled her eyes.
S'Yan, her former mentor, merely chuckled as he walked beside her. Shuri carried several scanners designed to detect different spectrums of energy while they moved through the forest. The maglev line itself, where the explosion had occurred, was currently sealed off under heavy security for the investigation.
But she didn't need to be on-site to know something was wrong.
That explosion should not have happened.
The unmanned maglev train carrying vibranium might not have been her finest work, but it certainly wasn't sloppy enough to explode like a firework. She didn't need to review the schematics or comb through the wreckage like the engineers currently doing so.
She knew her own work.
Even the most incompetent idiot shouldn't have been able to blow it up like that.
S'Yan had suggested that perhaps Wakanda's magnetic fields had shifted, or that a localized underground plate movement had exposed another cache of vibranium.
Which was absurd…
But not completely impossible.
Large concentrations of vibranium could become volatile under the right circumstances. She had reluctantly entertained the idea and agreed to accompany S'Yan rather than wait for the inevitable report she already knew would disappoint her.
Mount Bashenga's vibranium reserves did create subtle distortions. The magnetic effects used in the railway systems could become sensitive in areas like that.
But…
She frowned.
Something about the situation still felt wrong.
"Princess, shall we check the last location?" S'Yan asked. "The final vector points to these woods."
"Go on without me." Her fingers began dialing across her kimoyo beads. "I need to make a call."
"Leaving your elder to do all the work?" S'Yan tutted.
"Fine," she muttered, rolling her eyes as she followed after him.
Her fingers brushed across the beads and initiated the call. The holographic image was still a work in progress, but she could still see her brother's exasperated face clearly.
"Zuri?" T'Challa rubbed his eyes. "What is it?"
"Is that any way to greet your wonderful sister?"
"You're right," T'Challa sighed. "Perhaps I should greet her with a fist to the head for neglecting her duties."
"I am doing my duties," she shot back, lifting her scanner again as it gave its final reading. "In fact, I already know what those bores at the investigation site are going to find."
"Those 'bores' are our subjects, you know," T'Challa chided.
"Am I wrong?" Shuri shook her head. "I guarantee they're all butting heads over who to blame, even though I already told them what the results would be."
"Perhaps…" T'Challa said, sounding reluctant to admit she might be right. "Still, it would have been nice to have you here so I didn't have to suffer through it alone."
"I'm not sitting around listening to a bunch of old geezers yell at each other about why my train went wrong when I know perfectly well it wasn't a design failure." She waved a hand dismissively. "And I didn't leave just to avoid them."
"Of course you didn't," T'Challa said dryly.
"I'll have you know I'm actually working," she huffed. "I'm checking the outskirts of the city to make sure there weren't any external factors that could have influenced the crash. And, once again, I was right. There were no sudden magnetic shifts or tectonic disturbances that could have caused the train to derail and explode. So if the train didn't malfunction and there were no natural anomalies, that leaves only one final possibility."
"Sabotage…" T'Challa frowned. "You make a dangerous claim, Shuri. Accusing one of our own tribes would not be taken lightly."
"You're missing the point, T'Challa. Who said anything about sabotage from inside Wakanda?"
"An outsider…?" T'Challa hesitated. "That has not happened in years."
"And yet it did happen," she emphasized. "Just because it was shameful doesn't mean it didn't happen, brother. Don't let the pride of those old foggies blind you to the facts."
T'Challa studied her for a moment before letting out a quiet sigh. "Very well. I will inform Father. But if you are correct, then danger already walks within our lands. Where are you? I will send the Dora Milaje to retrieve you."
"I'm with S'Yan near the edge of the jungle, close to Birnin Zana. Don't bother. Our ships are only a ten-minute walk away."
"S'Yan?" T'Challa blinked. "Shuri… S'Yan is in the hospital. He collapsed at his home earlier today."
"What? He's right here—"
Something struck her chest.
Prongs dug into her chest, and a violent shock ripped through her body. Her muscles seized instantly, refusing to obey her as she collapsed to the ground.
"Shuri? Shuri! What's happening?" T'Challa's voice echoed urgently through the beads.
S'Yan stood over her.
No… not S'Yan.
The man calmly reached down and tore the kimoyo beads from her arm, the holographic call still flickering.
"Caught right at the finish line," the disguised man said with a sigh. "I'm never going to hear the end of this."
He tossed the beads to the ground and crushed them beneath his heel.
"Make yourselves useful and bind this one."
Shuri's eyes widened as several men in black tactical gear and faceless masks stepped out of the undergrowth.
So many.
She needed to alert—
Her teeth clenched as her body continued to convulse from the shock. Below her waist, hidden in her belt, was a tracker.
Her fingers twitched toward it.
An iron grip clamped around her wrist.
Her arm froze in place as she was lifted effortlessly off the ground.
Face to face with a man wearing a black mask.
And a metal arm.
"Make sure to frisk her thoroughly," the fake S'Yan said casually. "The princess is a genius. Who knows what she's carrying?"
Unable to move even an inch, Shuri could only grit her teeth as they dragged her deeper into the jungle.
***
Comments and Thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Likes are like a drug to me and boost my creative juices.
I have advanced chapters on my Pa tre on/daisyberry if you wanna read ahead.