Hiding Behind a Mask | Peter Parker

Chapter 16 : Who's the King?

"Alli?" Came a voice from the other side of the door. Alli rolled over in bed, turning her back to the door as it slowly swung open. In walked Shuri, seeing Alli still laying in bed. Instead of the past few days, she decided to walk into the room, standing at the foot of the bed. "Get your sorry ass up."

"Excuse me?" Alli asked, not bothering to peek out from under the covers.

"You heard me, this room is starting to get a stench, and I need help in the lab, so get your sorry ass out of bed," Shuri said, crossing her arms, and starring at the lump in the sheets.

"I'm not feeling well," Alli said.

"That is a lie, there is something else going on," Shuri said, and there was no response to that. She waited a moment, and then continued on, "Fine, you don't have to tell me. I don't really care, but once T'Challa gets home he will care. So the better option is get up now, and come help me in the lab with no questions asked. Cause if you don't, you better believe your room is going to be the first stop on his home tour."

"The what?"

"Just get up," Shuri said, as Alli started pulling the sheets back. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks puffy. Shuri's eyebrows knit together seeing her face, and a question began forming in her mouth before she stopped herself.

"I'm fine," Alli said, walking past her and into the bathroom. Shuri just sat down on the bed, waiting for Alli to get ready. In the bathroom, Alli saw herself and realized she was letting them get to her. She wasn't even on the same continent, and the press was still managing to get under her skin.

She turned on the sink, letting the water run down the drain and waving her hand above it. It start to form a swirl in the sink, then lifting out of bowl, encircled her, cleaning up her hair and face, along with the rest of her. She quickly got dressed, and walked out of the bathroom, looking better than she had for quite a few days.

"Ah, you look so much better, not like you have been living in the wild. Now let's go," Shuri said, standing up with a smile, and leading the way out of the room. They made their way down to the lab, were a projection of a crashed car was in the middle of the room.

"What's that all about?" Alli asked, seeing the project, and walking around it.

"That is from the chase the other night, that you missed out on," Shuri answered, shutting off the projection, and walking over to one of her work stations. She picked up a crown, holding it out in front of her.

"What's that?" Alli asked, looking at the crown that was brown and green.

"This is your crown," Shuri said, and Alli laughed.

"That's funny. How do I put this nicely? I'm not a crown type of girl, but thank yo..."

"Shut up," Shuri said, rolling her eyes, and making an adjustment to the crown, "This is not for diplomacy, this is for protection. This crown will turn your water powers into a shield. By adjusting a few things, when you start using your powers on water, the special touches of this crown will give a force that will block anything coming at you. It's like a real shield, just using water."

"That's great, but why is it the colors of a flower crown?" Alli asked.

"Cause those are the colors of your eyes," Shuri said, and Alli blinked, "You should see what it looks like when you use it." Shuri laughed, walking over to Alli and placing it on her head. A bracelet on Shuri's wrist started going off, and as looked down to see what was going on. She looked back up at Alli, and quickly walked out of the room, leaving Alli standing there.

Alli started looking around the room, seeing all the gadgets that Shuri was working on. It was amazing seeing all the technology that was being created. The lab made Tony's lab look like child's play. She heard rustling down the hall, and Shuri was walking alongside T'Challa, as they escorted a bed down the hall. Laying on the bed was a small man, that was clearly unconscious. Alli watched a Shuri walked the bed into the lab, T'Challa looking over it before walking out.