Black Panther: Rise of the Princess (COMPLETE)

Chapter 25: Shuri

As it turned out, Peter was being serious. "Think about it. We wouldn't have known where HYDRA's base was if they hadn't taken them there. We thought HYDRA was just in the outreach center, no one had any idea they had a separate building."

I sat down and massaged my temple. "I'm sure we could have found that out without sacrificing T'Challa and Okoye."

"This isn't a sacrifice play," Peter insisted. "I've seen a sacrifice play. This isn't it, because they don't plan to die."

"What do they expect me to do?" I asked. "Other than save their sorry hides?"

Peter shrugged. "Specifically? I don't think they expect anything. Maybe they're just waiting to see what you do, and they'll follow your lead."

"What lead?"

"You can access the suit from the ship, right? The suit that is inside HYDRA's base?"

I clawed my left palm. It was a bad habit, and Mother was always reminding me that I shouldn't, but it helped me think when I was stuck. "Sure I can, but what would that accomplish?"

Standing up, I opened a new tab on T'Challa's suit. Peter didn't answer, and instead just watched me. I started skimming through the functions I could activate from a distance. All of them, in case that wasn't clear. None of them seemed helpful at the moment, because the suit was currently deactivated, and in it's necklace form around T'Challa's neck.

What did I really need to get T'Challa out? I had to have access to the network, the one HYDRA used to keep track of prisoners and whatnot. They would have cell information, and probably any plans they had for said prisoners, who were currently Okoye and my idiot brother.

Then I remembered what I had said earlier. T'Challa is betting all of Wakanda on me. I have to focus on my country first. As much as I hated it, stopping HYDRA needed to be my top priority.

...I wonder if HYDRA stores their information about resources on the same network as they do for prisoners. What were the chances?

Scrolling to the design of the suit, I also pulled up a coding tab and shoved it to Peter's side of the projector. "Do you think you can get into HYDRA's network?" I asked, while opening an alternate design command. This one was completely fresh, a blank canvas. I could make the suit into what I needed it to be, within certain restrictions. The vibranium was already refined and coded, so the most extreme possibilities were out of the question, but I could redesign the suit to be something else, something that might be able to help bring down HYDRA, and bring home my brother and Okoye.

He took over the code tab and opened a keyboard. "If you can get me access to the system, I can get in."

"Then get ready," I told him. "If you can prepare now, it will save time later."

Peter began preparing...whatever it was that he thought would work, and I got started on the suit. I pulled up a three dimensional model of the panther statue that watched over Wakanda, and imported the dimensions to the design. I scaled it down, obviously, since a forty-foot would be very noticeable. This panther would be a centimeter tall, barely significant to the unsuspicious eye. Hopefully, HYDRA wouldn't be looking too closely down.

In the body of the panther, I began calibrating the movement of the legs. It would have to be able to run and jump to wherever a port for the network might be, in order to give Peter access. I recalled a blueprint for a small toy panther I came up with back in my childhood, and recreated it as best as I could from memory. Simple? Yes, but effective nonetheless.

The head would be the plugin. I didn't know what type of port we would come across, but as long as we could find it, we could adapt to the system. Instead of transmitting T'Challa's vitals, I programmed the panther to send the ship large data files. We would need everything we could get our paws on once we got in, and we needed it quickly. Hopefully, it could give us everything we need. I also made sure to install visual and audio feeds. I had to know what we were dealing with.

I saved the design and waited for the suit to read the new dimensions and functions. A series of beeps told me it was ready, and I activated the panther design. I couldn't see the transformation, but somewhere in the HYDRA base, T'Challa's necklace was consolidating and morphing into a puny black panther. The visuals and audio activated, and I saw the panther land in T'Challa's lap, and wait for my instructions. I turned it 180 degrees, so I could see T'Challa.

He had the nerve to smile down at my creation. I wish I had added a speaker to the panther, so I could tell him how stupid he was being. As it was, I had forgotten.

T'Challa nodded his head at the door, and spoke quietly, but loud enough that I could hear him through the panther. "Good luck, Shuri. I'll wait for you to finish."

I wanted to hug him with one arm and punch him with the other. He actually had the audacity to wish me luck after he had allowed himself to be taken captive. On the other hand, he truly had believed in me. As much as I hated where he was going with this, he had been right. I just hoped that he would continue to be. His life was depending on it.

Turning the panther around again, I told it to slip under the door to T'Challa's cell, and out into the rest of the base. It was time to find out what HYDRA was up to.