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

Chapter 11: Taking Care of Business

Shuri whimpered, the pain in her body taking over as her head lowered, her mind going back to that moment in the Ancestral Plane where she saw Killmonger. 

'You going to be noble, like your brother... or take care of business - like me?' Erik Stevens asked her. 

'I'm not my brother. Namor will beg me for mercy, as I stand and watch as he dies.' 

She gasped, and sliced off the spear with her vibranium claws, then she groaned, yelling and pulled herself off of the spear, then fell to the ground. Rising slowly as the damage in her suit began to close up, she stumbled towards Namor. 

Namor continued to head towards the water, until Shuri flipped over him with ease, landing in front of him. He stared at her in dumbfounded surprise, until she suddenly crossed her arms over her chest, and yelled, 

'Wakanda forever!' and the place exploded in a big ball of fire. When the flame cleared, Namor stood before her, his body smoking and smouldering with ash and flame. He crumpled to the ground, groaning in agony. She unveiled her mask and stood over him with a vibranium spear, placing it to his throat. In her mind, images flashed. 

Her mother, lying dead in the water. 

The city, being blown up by water bombs, and slowly coming back together again. The reversal of the damage. 

The reversal of Namor leaving her home, leaving Wakanda, as if the deaths of her mother and all those people in Wakanda never happened. 

Then, a voice spoke. 

'Shuri,' the voice said, seeming to call to her from the depths of the Ancestral Plane. She looked up, tears gathering in her eyes. 

'Mama?' 

'Show him who you are,' the queen said. 

Shuri turned to Namor, leaning down to look into his eyes. 

'Yield, and Wakanda will protect your oceans,' she snarled. 'We will protect your secrets. Yield, and your people will live.' The silence hung in the air like a thick blanket as she spoke. 'Vengeance has consumed us. We cannot let it consume our people.' Finally, he spoke. 

'I yield,' he replied in his language. 

I landed behind the soldiers of Talokan, watching as they cornered both the remaining Wakandans and Jabari. Suddenly, as if called by some otherworldly force, they stepped back, and a Wakandan ship hovered over the waters, Namor and Shuri hanging out of it, looking down on their respective peoples. Namor shouted, and the soldiers of Talokan ceased, all of the people looking up at Namor and Shuri. 

'Let us return home!' Namor exclaimed in his language. 'Our fight here is done.' The soldiers of Talokan immediately knelt. 

'Wakanda forever!' Shuri exclaimed, and the Wakandans echoed. 

Several days later... 

Shuri walked into the lab in Wakanda, where Riri was working, and I was sitting on the desk, watching her work, laughing at something she said. We turned when we saw Shuri coming in, and I hopped off the table. 

'Yo,' Shuri called out. She came towards Riri and the two did a small handshake thing - whatever it was. 'All set to head home?' she asked. 

'As long as you're sure the police won't be waiting for me at the airport.' 

'Don't worry. Took care of that,' Shuri replied. 'But you might want to slow down on your homework-for-hire business. Get caught slipping, I can't help you with that.' Riri laughed. 

'They said you wanted to talk to me about something?' Riri asked. 

'Yes. Your suit, it's a great design, but I can't let you leave with it.' 

'It's all good. I figured the least I could do is help Wakanda clean up my mess.' 

'I have one more thing to show you,' Shuri said, beginning to walk away. 'Come.' 

Riri pulled the tarp off of the red vehicle, gasping in awe. 

'Took me a while to find all the parts from the river, but it was worth it.' 

'How did you...' She traced the car with her hand, walking around it, looking back at Shuri and I. 'It's my dad's car. We used to work on it before... You sure this is it?'

'Every part. Have it shipped to Boston. Be there before you arrive.' She turned to Shuri. 

'Bring it in, man,' she said cheerfully, and the two of them went in for a hug. 

'Panther, Miss Williams' transport has arrived,' GRIOT said over the intercom. Riri came to me, and I opened my arms. 

'I don't normally give hugs, but get over here, kid.' I pulled her in, touching her head gently. 'Take care of yourself, okay?' I handed her a slip of paper. 'I know you're in Chicago, so if you need me, I'm a phone call away.' 

'You seem to give commitments to a lot of people,' Riri remarked. 

'I know. It's what I do best. If you need me, I'm in Brooklyn. You'll know where to find me.' Riri stepped away from us. 

'Look after yourself,' Shuri called out. 

'Sure you're not trying to slide to Chicago?' Riri asked. 'Catch a Bulls game?' 

'Sounds fun, but - I have something I need to take care of,' Shuri replied. 

Everett Ross sat in a prison van, on his way to jail after Valentina had outed him. The truck suddenly pulled to a stop. 

'What the hell is this?' one of the agents asked. 'Can we turn around?' 

'I don't know, man. We'll lose an hour.' 

'Why don't you go check it out?' One of the agents got out of the truck and surveyed the area. Just then, something smashed the roof, and as the other agent attempted to see what was going on, he, too, was swiftly taken care of. The back doors burst open, and Okoye stood there in her Midnight Angel suit, and me in my White Phoenix suit. The helmet of the Midnight Angel suit folded back to reveal her face, and Everett gasped in relief. 

'A colonizer in chains,' Okoye quipped. 'Now I have seen everything.'

'Funny.'