The Outsider: Shuri x OC

2016: We Lost Him

"Hello. I can see you! I can, I can see you," Klaue giggled. "So this is a big mess, huh?" Ross asked. "I say we  go good cop, bad cop. I'll talk to him first, then you guys go in."

"We can't let him talk to Klaue alone," Okoye said in Xhosa. "Better to let him talk to Klaue for 5 minutes than to make a scene here," T'Challa replied, also in Xhosa. "After your questioning, we will take him back to  with us."

"What? No. Look, I like you, a lot. But he's in my jurisdiction now. He's not  anywhere," Ross argued. "Ulysses Klaue attacked my country and killed my adoptive father's parents. He is a war criminal who's mere name has incited panic. He'll be lucky for us to even let him live," said Akoni

"Listen, I'm doing you guys a favor by letting you even be in here," Ross reminded, tapping T'Challa's shoulder.

"If he touches you again, I'm going to impale him to this desk," Okoye threatened in Xhosa.   Akoni snickered at her threat. "Does she speak English?" Ross asked.

"When she wants to," Okoye smartly replied.

"Huh. I'm going in. When I'm done, you guys are up."

"Ross."

"Yeah?"

"I do appreciate your help in Busan," T'Challa said, tapping Ross' shoulder.

"You see that? It's called diplomacy. You're welcome."

"Okoye, play nice."

"Americans," Okoye scoffed.

Akoni, T'Challa, and Okoye listened to Klaue and Ross' conversation. Klaue told him all of Wakanda's secrets, but of course Ross thought he was crazy. However, the more he revealed, the more Ross took him seriously until finally he left the interrogation room. "Your father told the UN... that Klaue stole all the Vibranium you had. But now he's  me you have more?" Ross asked suspiciously.

"And you would believe the words of an arms dealer strapped to a chair?" T'Challa defended. "How much more are you hiding?" Ross asked.   Suddenly, Nakia walked through the door. "Something is happening. Out back," she said in Xhosa as a bomb went off. A man wearing a tribal African antelope mask then started shooting up the room. "Get down!" Ross yelled, tackling Nakia and being shot in the back.

Another one of Klaue's goons dragged his chair through the massive hole in the interrogation room's wall.

T'Challa chased the man, who entered a van and drove off. The mercenary in the antelope mask started shooting and charging up T'Challa's suit. When he jumped at him, however, he changed the gun to a grenade launcher and knocked him into a wall. T'Challa got up, defeated, and walked back into the building.

"He just jumped in front of me," Nakia said, looking at Ross. His breathing was labored. He was dying. "I don't think he'll make it here. It hit his spine."

"Give me a bead," T'Challa commanded. Nakia obliged, and he stuck the bead in Ross' bullet wound. "This will stabilize him for now," he said. "Give him to us," T'Challa told a CIA agent. "We can save him."

Hours later Akoni, Okoye, Nakia and T'Challa were arriving at Wakanda with an injured Ross via the Royal Talon fighter. "Our mission was to bring back Klaue. We failed. This man is a foreign intelligence operative. How do we justify bringing him into our borders?" Okoye asked. "He took a bullet for me!" Nakia argued.

"That was his choice."

"So now we are just going to let him die?"

"Let us consider that we heal him. It is his duty to report back to his country. And as king, it is your duty to protect ours," Okoye reminded T'Challa. "I'm well aware of my duties, General. I  just cannot just, let him die... knowing we can save him."

"Where exactly are we taking him?" Okoye asked.

~~~

"Great! Another broken white boy for us to fix. This is going to be fun," Shuri joked. Akoni stayed with her as T'Challa walked up the stairs and talked with W'Kabi. "So what happened out there?" Shuri probed. "We lost him," Akoni said defeatedly. "Are you okay?" she asked sympathetically.

"No," Akoni answered bluntly. "I trained every day for five years and became a full-fledged member of the Dora Milaje at age 14. All that, just to fail my first two missions." Akoni slumped down onto a chair. "Akoni, you can't blame yourself for everything." He sighed. "I guess you're right."

More hours had passed. Ross returned to consciousness and got up. "All right, where am I?" he asked, startling Shuri. "Don't scare me like that, colonizer!" she exclaimed.

"W-w-what?" Ross stammered. "My name is Everett."

"Yes, I know. Everett Ross... former air  pilot and now CIA," Shuri said. "Right. Okay, is this Wakanda?" Ross asked. "No, it's Kansas," Shuri replied. Akoni couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or serious.

"How long ago was Korea?" he asked. "Yesterday," Shuri answered.

"I don't think so. Bullet wounds don't just magically heal overnight."

"They do here. But not by magic, by technology," she corrected. "Shuri wait.  Let's just take a moment to delight in his dumbstruck little face," Akoni teased. Shuri giggled at his joke.

"Don't touch anything my brother will return soon," Shuri ordered. "These things... that's magnetic levitation, right?" Ross asked, pointing to Shuri's train system.

"Obviously."

"Obviously, but I've never seen it this efficient. The  panels, what are they?

"Sonic stabilizers."

"Sonic what?"

"In its raw form Vibranium is too dangerous to be transported at that speed... so we developed a way to temporarily disable it," Akoni explained. "There's Vibranium on those trains?" Ross asked. "There's Vibranium all around us. That's how I healed you," Shuri clarified.

She was then contacted on her Kimoyo bead by Okoye. "Where is T'Challa?" she asked. "His beads have been switched off."

"Well, we are not joined at the hip, Okoye."

"A man just showed up at the border who claims to have killed Klaue."

"What?"

"W'Kabi is taking him to the palace as we speak. We need to find your brother!" Okoye urged, "An outsider?" Shuri asked, surprised. "No, a Wakandan." Ross glanced at the hologram of the man. "He's not a Wakandan," he finally said. "He's one of ours."

Ross then pulled up a file of the man.

"Erik Stevens. Graduated Annapolis at age 19... MIT for grad school. Joined the SEALs and went straight to Afghanistan where he wrapped up confirmed kills like it was a video game. Started calling him Killmonger. He part of a JSOC unit. Now these guys are serious. They will drop off the grid... so they can commit assassinations and take down governments."

"Did he reveal anything about his identity?" Okoye asked. "He has a War Dog tattoo... but we have no record of him."