The White Phoenix 13: A Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Fanfiction

Chapter 3: The Wakandan Council

The next day... 

'Heaven Scrapers had no evidence of any activity at all,' Okoye said to the council as the doors opened and the Jabari entered the room. Okoye and Ayo stood near the throne where Ramonda was seated, and I stood next to Okoye, while the other council members were seated around the room in a small semicircle. 

'Oh, the river border has been breached, huh?,' M'Baku exclaimed. 'If my soldiers had been present, this "fish man" would be bound before us as we speak.' 

'If your muscle brains were present, they would still be there, choking on their fuzzy adornments,' Okoye snapped. I snorted in laughter, Ayo giving me a look. 

'Sorry. Not funny.' I looked down, fighting a smile.

'You bald-headed demon...' M'Baku quipped, but not before the queen interrupted. 

'Show some respect, you two.' 

'Respect? These men should be ashamed to show their faces!'

'Watch your tone, Jabari!' one of the river border soldiers snapped, stepping up. The Jabari began to hoot loudly before Okoye shouted, and the other Dora pounded their spears on the ground, bringing the council room to order once more. M'Baku sat on his council seat. 

'As I was saying,' Okoye said, 'there was no aerial surveillance footage of him.'

'And nothing on the radar as well.' 

'So, he swam underwater for 100 kilometres,' the leader of the River Tribe said. 

'He was not alone,' Ramonda replied, 'and claims to command a massive army.' 

'He wants us to deliver one American scientist. So he can kill them?' one of the other tribe leaders asked. 

'Do it,' another tribe leader spoke. 'We never had to face an enemy with access to vibranium before. And we have no Black Panther to protect us.' 

'That is because this wise council allowed Killmonger to take the throne and burn up all of your precious Heart-Shaped Herb,' M'Baku said. 

'M'Baku, what would you have us do?' Ramonda asked. 

'We should find the fish man and kill him. If we do what he is asking for now, what is to stop him from coming back and asking for more?' 

'If I may,' I spoke up from where I was standing, and the whole room looked at me. 'I - I don't mean to intrude.' 

'Why is she even here?' M'Baku asked. 'You're one of them. A coloniser.' 

'She has every right to speak as much as you do,' Ayo spoke. I looked to her with a grateful smile, then to Ramonda. 

'Speak, White Phoenix.' 

'I think that we should find the scientist. I would suggest not giving them to Namor just yet. I have some digging to do on Namor, with the knowledge that he's a mutant and all. If I can be of any service, I would offer myself as a volunteer to go to the States in order to search and retrieve our scientist.' 

'Very well, White Phoenix,' the queen said. 'You will go.' I lowered my head respectfully. 

'Thank you, my queen, for your gracious acceptance.' 

Ramonda, Okoye and I entered Shuri's lab a few hours later to see her tinkering with the machine that Namor had left on the beach. The lab workers on the floor bowed to her as she passed. 

'As you were,' she said, and they returned to their work. Okoye stopped in front of a blue suit design. 

'Is it just me, or does this keep getting uglier?' Okoye asked, gesturing to the suit design. Shuri looked up from tinkering with the machine. 

'It's you.' She looked down at me. 'My favourite American girl! White Phoenix! It's so good to see you!' 

'It's good to see you too, Shuri,' I said, stepping up with a smile. 'You've done quite a bit with the lab. It's been a while since I've been here.' 

'How is the broken white boy?' she asked with a laugh. 

'Bucky is well. He was - upset he couldn't come, but he understands why. Although, I am indebted to the queen for calling my aid in the attack on the research centre in Mali.' 

'So, does it work?' Ramonda asked. 

'Yes. This thing can detect the altered frequency of vibranium through water, stones, even heavy metals. Whoever built this is brilliant,' Shuri said with admiration in her voice, looking around the room from all the parts she'd pulled from the machine. 'Come, look.' We stepped around to look at the parts. 'Some are custom parts, and others look like they gathered it from a junkyard.' 

'I am still struggling to believe that vibranium exists outside of Wakanda,' Okoye remarked. 

'Perhaps there was more than one meteorite,' Shuri replied. 'Our planet is mostly water, so it's reasonable that the other one just landed there.' 

'This changes everything that we know,' Ramonda said. 

'The Great Mound,' Okoye said. 'All of the legends and fables. Those stories are seared in my mind.' 

'That sounds very painful,' Shuri spoke under her breath, and I sniggered as Okoye and Ramonda walked away. 

'So we have to find this scientist after all,' Okoye said. 'I do have an idea. I'm going to need the princess.' 

'Out of the question. She is in no state to be in the field.'

'My Queen,' Okoye replied in Xhosa, 'it might do her some good to get out. It might just be exactly what she needs. Besides, I can do this American operation with my eyes closed.' 

'It's not the Americans that I'm worried about. This - Namor, he snuck past our defences.' 

'That will never happen again.' 

'He was not alone.' 

'She'll be with me, and with the White Phoenix,' Okoye replied. 

'So,' Shuri called out, causing the two of them to turn to Shuri and me, 'when are we leaving, so I can see my favourite coloniser?'