Chapter Text
"To be able to solve this exercise, you must first start with the implementation using the following differential equa—You're late again, Riri!”
TJ continued to write the differential equation she was giving to the Juniors she tutored, while Riri excused herself as she walked past her to join the rest of the tutor group they both worked with at the back of the room. She shook her head slightly for a moment, then continued to explain the exercise she created on simulating an energy-absorbing vibration system.
Her hand moved quickly, in time with her words as she demonstrated the exercise. Her eyes quickly following her hand's movements, before finally finishing demonstrating her exercise—correcting it—then she turned around to face the group of students staring at her, raising an eyebrow, waiting to see if any of them had a question for her.
Seeing that no one was asking her any questions, she put down the marker she was holding and headed to the back of the room while another tutor took her place, handing over the new copies of exercises.
"Hey, hold on a sec, Williams!" TJ reached out and held Riri back, who immediately froze, swearing under her breath as she spun her around. "Where were you planning on going?” She asked with a raised brow.
Riri bit her lower lip, looking at her with a remorseful expression. "Sorry, Thena... it won't happen again..."
TJ shook her head in mock disappointment, knowing full well she couldn’t be mad at Riri. "That's what you told me two days ago, and last week too. Seriously, Riri, I can't cover for you all year—especially after you disappeared two months ago!" She uttered, watching Riri closely, hoping for a reaction from her.
Riri sighed deeply, her rigid body and tense shoulders relaxing with the sigh, and TJ crossed her fingers in hope that Riri would finally tell her about what happened to her two months ago. Her sudden disappearance for over a month after creating her Vibranium detector before reappearing with no explanation for anyone, not even her, even though they were practically family.
But well, apparently Riri didn’t really feel like telling her about it given her still remorseful expression. So TJ sighed heavily, letting her arm fall back to her side and took a step back while Riri just gave her a weak smile, before turning around to go back to her desk. TJ watched her do silently, and leaned against the wall behind her while grabbing the cup of coffee that one of the tutors working with her offered her.
TJ took a long sip of her coffee and let her gaze wander around the classroom for a moment. Her hand tightened around her cup without her noticing, and then suddenly a tremor rippled through the entire building—she must’ve been really tired—or so she thought, until she noticed the surprised expressions around her.
"Did you feel it too?" One of the Juniors they tutored asked, turning around to ask them.
TJ swallowed heavily, because yes, she felt it like everyone else seemed to have felt it.
Her eyes quickly scanned the room, making sure all the exits were clear in case there's another earthquake, then she turned to Riri, who looked pale as she looked at her watch on her wrist.
TJ frowned at Riri, as she sat her cup down before walking up to her.
But with the first step she took, the entire building started shaking again—harder this time—and her vision blurred without her understanding what was happening to her. She heard the screams of several people at once, but her dizziness prevented her from detecting where each voice was coming from, and then she felt her legs give way under her weight as she finally heard Riri.
“TJ!”
And then nothing. TJ couldn’t see anything anymore. She couldn’t see the light filtering through the curtains from the windows. She couldn’t hear Riri's voice screaming her name to wake her up. Just the thunderous, dull thump in her chest—deep, vibrant, unnatural.
"Fuck, TJ!" Riri screamed, shaking TJ who was unconscious on the floor. Her eyes watered without her noticing, before she turned to one of the tutors still in the room. "Someone call 911, please!" She practically begged, as she held TJ in her arms.
No!
There was no way anything was going to happen to the only family she had left—Riri wasn’t going to let it happen. She was not going to lose TJ, just like she lost her father when she was younger, just like she lost her stepfather five years ago and just like she lost her mother a year ago, she refused to have Thena taken away from her.
Riri tightened her arms around TJ, trying her best to wake her up, rubbing her forearm and whispering her name. Her eyes misted over, filling with tears she won't let fall until she noticed her Kimoyo beads spinning wildly on her wrist. Her panic already triggered, her pulse quickened as the color of her pearls changed from a fairly light purple to a fairly dark purple, making her panic even more—because that color was the one that told her that there was Vibranum nearby. Which technically shouldn’t be possible.
However, there was not much she could do, not when TJ was limp in her arms. She wasn’t going to leave TJ on her own to go looking for Vibranium, she couldn’t leave TJ alone.
She wouldn’t.
"Where is the patient?”
Riri hugged TJ a little closer, lifting her head when she heard the word 'patient', only to see paramedics entering the classroom, followed by a female tutor who directed them towards her and TJ. One of the women present approached and crouched down in front of them, a faint smile on her lips as she placed the bag she was carrying not far from TJ.
"Hey, my name is Olivia, I'm a paramedic." The paramedic started softly, taking out her stethoscope. "What's your friend's name?" She asked.
Riri watched her for a moment, her brain couldn’t process what she was saying for a few seconds, then she opened her mouth. "TJ, her name is TJ Banks..." She finally answered.
The paramedic nodded with a reassuring smile, while examining TJ in Riri's arms, who refused to let go. "Okay, and what's your name?”
"Riri Williams." Riri said, her voice weak and strained as she lowered her eyes to look at TJ in her arms.
Damn, she should’ve asked TJ if she'd eaten before their tutoring session. She should’ve brought her a bagel, or a salad—she should’ve made sure TJ was okay.
"Okay Riri, it looks like TJ has a concussion—can you tell me what happened to her?"
Riri nodded and explained the situation to the paramedic who was taking notes, before informing her that they needed to take TJ to the hospital. She swallowed and then looked at TJ. It was annoying, because between TJ having a concussion and her Kimoyo beads telling her there was Vibranium at MIT, Riri didn’t know what to do.
She couldn’t let TJ go to the hospital alone, not in her freaking condition, but she also couldn’t let Vibranium loose—Shuri would kill her if she found out. So Riri pursed her lips into a thin line, then sighed, nodding. She had to go to the hospital with TJ.
The paramedics walked up her to pick TJ up, placing her on a stretcher and carrying her out of the classroom while Riri stayed back for a moment to send a message to Shuri, so she could come and take care of the Vibranium herself while she was at the hospital with TJ.
So Riri raised her wrist to her mouth. "Shuri, it's Riri, I need you. I’ve detected Vibranium at MIT, I need you to take care of it because I have something important to do—sorry!" She said and sent the message, praying that Shuri received it in time.
She then took off her Kimoyo beads, slipped them into her pocket, and ran out of the room, leaving the building to join the paramedics who were loading TJ into their truck. Olivia, the paramedic, upon seeing her, gave her a smile and helped her into the truck where she sat at TJ's side while Olivia administered a battery of tests, as the truck finally drove off to head towards the hospital.
Slowly, Riri let her hand join TJ's, squeezing it wordlessly—her eyes raking over TJ's calm face, which seemed so peaceful. Her thumb lightly stroked TJ's knuckles, as she bit the inside of her lip, praying that TJ was okay. Riri would die if she lost the only family she has left.
Her head fell limp at the thought, before quickly snapping back up as a massive earthquake rippled through Cambridge. Riri gripped TJ's hand tightly in hers, gritting her teeth as the shaking intensified, sending the entire ambulance and them toppling over.
"What the fuck is going on?" Olivia asked, trying to keep TJ lying down so she didn’t hurt herself.
On the other side of the ambulance, the second paramedic turned around. "I have no idea, but this is shaking the whole city!”
Riri swore softly under her breath, as she looked out the window to see all the cars stopped in the middle of the road, all shaking from the earthquake they were facing. Then after a moment everything stopped, the earthquakes ceased—the carnage of cars outside subsided, and Riri almost sighed in relief, before she saw TJ lying on the stretcher, her eyes wide open.
”TJ!”
TJ jerked upright, making the entire ambulance shake, and that was only then that Riri noticed the color of TJ's eyes, which were no longer brown but gold, as TJ began to glow softly with a golden hue, a shine coming from her veins.
"What the hell is that?" Olivia practically screamed and backed away from TJ.
Riri froze when she saw TJ's condition, her pulse quickened and before she could react the ambulance doors suddenly opened, and TJ jumped out of the vehicle causing another earthquake as she landed on the road. Riri watched her do so before jumping out of the ambulance herself, ignoring Olivia who was shouting their names.
She didn’t understand anything anymore. Riri didn’t understand what was happening to TJ, but she ran after her, calling out her name—in hope that it would stop TJ in her tracks—while she called out for her armor, that flew to her after about ten seconds, allowing her to pursue TJ, who now seemed to have superhuman speed and strength.
Passersby and drivers around them moved away when they saw them, but Riri only had eyes for TJ, who she finally caught before being thrown against a wall.
“Fuck, TJ it’s me!” Riri exclaimed, her breath ragged as she retracted her helmet to reveal her face, as TJ prepared to punch her. “It’s me, it’s Riri—your cousin!”
But that didn't seem to have any effect on TJ, who punched her, sending her flying a few meters away and making her curse as she hit the wall of an old building. And before she could even react, TJ rushed towards her at full speed, grabbing her by the neck and lifting her into the air before throwing her to the ground. Riri tried her best to defend herself, but TJ's strength seemed to increase tenfold with every blow she landed.
Shuri spun in her chair with a weak yawn, then pushed her chair over to her second workstation where her new creation for Nakia sat. She tucked her stylus behind her ear and pursed her lips into a thin line as she analyzed the new Vibranium bracelets, looking for ways to improve them, when Griot interrupted.
"Princess Shuri, it appears Miss Williams has detected Vibranium. Near her.”
Hearing Griot's news, Shuri frowned in confusion. It was impossible for Riri to detect Vibranium, she was supposed to be in college—and there hadn't been any information about Vibranium leaving Wakanda in the last months. The only source of Vibranium outside of Wakanda was usually Bucky's arm, as well as the Captain America shield, and Bucky was currently in Wakanda visiting them. Well, mostly to visit T'Challa, who was recovering from being resurrected almost a month ago.
So Shuri pushed herself with her chair to reach her main screen, where she displayed the signal from Riri's Kimoyo beads, which told her that she had indeed detected Vibranium. She squinted for a moment while triangulating to locate the signal, before realizing that the signal Riri was emitting was coming from MIT.
She then swore, standing up suddenly, just as she received a message from Riri that Griot announced.
“Princess Shuri, Miss Williams just sent you a voicemail.”
Shuri breathed heavily. "Play the message Griot," She demanded, running a hand down the back of her neck, her entire body tense under the pressure.
"Shuri, it's Riri, I need you. I’ve detected Vibranium at MIT, I need you to take care of it because I have something important to do—sorry!" Griot played the message that Shuri listened to more than three times.
What did Riri have to do that was more important than securing loose Vibranium? Shuri swore again as she leaned against her workstation, forcing herself to think of a solution—because she couldn’t leave the Vibranium loose in the middle of Cambridge either, she couldn’t do that, and she would have warned T'Challa, but knowing him, he'd be willing to go and retrieve it on his own, while he was still recovering, and as for Bucky, Shuri refused to send him on a mission. Her mother would be angry with her.
So only her, Okoye, and Nakia were able to go and retrieve the Vibranium, and speaking of Okoye and Nakia, they both walked into her lab and joined her at her workstation—while she straightened up to look at them, trying not to let her frustration and worry show.
"Hey Shuri, what are you still doing cooped up in here?" Nakia asked her as she spun around, glancing at what was in her lab.
Shuri swallowed as she sat up a little straighter, which immediately and inevitably drew Nakia and Okoye’s attention on her. Okoye narrowed her eyes and analyzed her wordlessly, then turned sharply to her main screen where her triangulation was still displayed—and fuck—Shuri should’ve been more careful, more attentive to what she left on her main screen.
"Vibranium in the Colonizer territory?" Okoye muttered and turned to her, her brows furrowing as their eyes met. "Why is there Vibranium in the Colonizer’s country?" She asked, her tone very clear.
A simple sigh escaped Shuri, who then massaged her temples. She too had no explanation for why there was Vibranium in Cambridge. And Riri hadn't given her a concrete explanation either, so she couldn’t really answer Okoye's question.
"I don’t know, but I’ll probably ring an alarm when I get the answer," Shuri smiled tensely as she replied sarcastically.
Okoye unsheathed her spear at her sarcastic tone, and Shuri let her strained smile widen. Maybe she should stop with the sarcastic replies? Yeah, she probably should.
Shuri sighed heavily, giving herself time to form a response appropriate to their situation, then she replayed Riri's message to Nakia and Okoye, who listened to it before looking at her.
"What are you going to do?" Nakia narrowed her eyes for a moment. Shuri huffed, she only had one clear option.
“I have to go. That’s my job as Black Panther to recover it.” Because even though T’Challa was back among them, Shuri remained The Black Panther while he recovered. She remained The Black Panther, even if she still didn’t want that title—it was her duty.
“Okoye and I will come!” Nakia declared, grabbing the Vibranium bracelets resting on her second workstation. Shuri immediately frowned and was about to retort, when Nakia raised a hand, stopping her. “There’s no point arguing, Shuri! Okoye and I will come with you, as we don’t know how that Vibranium ended up in the United States, and we don’t know who has it.”
Shuri remained silent for a moment, she looked at both Nakia and Okoye then sighed. Nakia was right, she didn't know who had the Vibranium, and she even less knew what form it was in. The Vibranium could be in more than one form, and it would be a very bad thing if it were in the form of a weapon. So she took one last look at her main screen, making sure the Vibranium was in Cambridge before nodding to Okoye and Nakia.
That mission promised to be a good one, Shuri thought, and walked out of her lab with Nakia and the Dora Milaje general in tow. Together, they headed to the aircraft deck where they commandeered one of the aircraft, while Shuri activated her suit as she sat in the back—letting Okoye pilot the ship, while Nakia sat opposite her.
The journey promised to be a good one.
Shuri had a bad feeling. A feeling that weighed heavily over her.
Her eyes closed for a moment and she exhaled deeply as the aircraft took off.
Opposite her, even without having to open her eyes, Shuri could feel Nakia's heavy gaze on her—but she didn't open her eyes. She knew better than meeting Nakia’s gaze in a confined environment and what would happen if she did. She knew Nakia would ask the long awaited questions she refused to answer.
Shuri knew. And so she didn't open her eyes, and let herself rest for the duration of their journey.
If she didn't speak, and didn't make eye contact with Nakia in the aircraft , Shuri knew she could avoid her. So the journey from Wakanda to Massachusetts took place in complete silence.
And Shuri didn't mind.
So they spent the whole flight in silence, a silence heavy with unanswered questions.
"We have reached our destination, Princess."
Okoye's announcement forced Shuri to open her eyes. The daylight in Cambridge contrasted with the evening light of Wakanda, where it was already night.
Shuri took a deep breath, then turned to Okoye. "What is it, Okoye?" She asked, seeing Okoye's expression.
The Dora Milaje general turned to face outside without a word, and Shuri did the same, as did Nakia, where they spotted two figures in the middle of a fight. Riri. Shuri immediately recognized Riri's armor, which she resumed crafting after returning home. The armor looked more developed than the last time Shuri saw it.
She squinted, trying to get a good look at the armor, but something else caught her eye—someone else—Shuri corrected herself as she saw the glowing-veined figure in the middle of the fight, with Riri struggling to keep up. And before she could even comprehend, Shuri saw Riri crushed to the ground.
"We’ve got to go! The little girl won't last much longer!" Nakia's voice rose and Shuri tore her gaze away from the scene.
Okoye gave her a subtle look, meaning 'be careful,' but Shuri wasn't known for being careful, she was not one for being cautious. So she activated her mask before wordlessly jumping off of the aircraft, followed closely by Nakia—as she unceremoniously landed gracefully on the sidewalk, not far from Riri.
Shuri gave herself time to hum. Her eyes scanned the area to make sure there was no Vibranium weapons nearby, before she dashed towards Riri and the figure, who noticed her without much surprise. Shuri threw her arm forward, grabbing the figure's arm, that she handled, as she ended up sitting on their shoulders.
She pulled on the figure’s arm she was holding onto, squeezing her legs around their throat.
Shuri gritted her teeth tightly just before a headache hit her. She brought her free hand to her head, and her slight moment of inattention allowed the figure beneath her to tip her backward, making her fall heavily without giving her time to react.
Fucking hell!
Nakia, seeing the scene, took a fighting stance and lunged at their opponent with her daggers—engaging in a hand-to-hand fight that their stranger seemed to have the upper hand over. Shuri pushed on her arms to get up, but a dull tremor resonates around them—an unnatural vibration ran through her entire body, causing her costume to malfunction.
What in the actual fuck was going on?
Too many questions raced through her mind at once. Her eyes lost track of the fight as the vibrations intensified throughout her body. However, she forced herself to get up, feeling the vibrations as she lunged toward her opponent again, unleashing her claws, that she dug into the figure’s back in front of her while Nakia plunged one of her daggers into their abdomen.
Shuri jumped after that a little further at the same time as Nakia, who narrowly avoided the blow the figure tried to land on her—while Riri screamed from where she lied on the ground.
“Shuri, no!” Riri let out a shrill cry of pain as she tried to get up. “Don’t hurt her!” She almost begged.
A moment of silence passed between them all. Shuri's breathing became increasingly irregular, as her costume glowed with a strange rhythm. Her jaw clenched involuntarily, before she noticed that the wounds she and Nakia had inflicted their opponent had closed.
"TJ, please stop. I don't know what's going on with you, but please come back—I need you, Thena." Riri deactivated her armor as she walked toward their opponent.
The flash of a gesture caught Shuri's attention, and she darted without thinking towards Riri, grabbing her, narrowly avoiding being hit by their opponent—TJ—as they rolled together on the sidewalk, at the same time as Nakia lunged towards TJ, sending a dagger into her leg.
Riri fought back more and more, screaming as Shuri continued to hold her back while Nakia and TJ fought. "Nakia no! Stop, don't...”
"Will you stop for a second!" Shuri exclaimed impatiently, holding her against her. She deactivated her mask. "She's out of control, Riri, what the hell is wrong with you? This girl is—"
Riri shook her head, continuing to fight back. Shuri resisted for a moment but finally lets go. "You don't understand. She didn't do anything wrong, TJ is innocent!" She said, turning to face her. Her eyes filled with tears and Shuri swallowed. "I don't know what's wrong with her, Shuri. You have to help me...”
Shuri didn't like the way this situation was turning out. She was supposed to be looking for Vibranium, not fighting someone who seemed to have superpowers and Riri was 'fighting' her while trying not to hurt her. She was not supposed to waste her time fighting that girl.
Her thoughts raced and raced in her head. Her breathing and pulse quickened, and Shuri lost her footing, faltering without realizing it before narrowly catching herself as a sudden earthquake rippled through Cambridge.
The buildings around them shifted violently in tandem. Shuri's vision blurred and her headaches increased, until TJ collapsed heavily to the ground.
A loud thud.
TJ's once glowing veins faded, followed by the earthquake stopping.
Shuri suddenly exhaled, as she noticed she'd been holding her breath. Nakia, across the street, rushed over to her and helped her up, while Riri rushed over to TJ, hugging her in a panic state. Shuri watched them silently, putting her arm around Nakia's shoulders. The mission was a complete failure. In every sense of the word.
A real disaster.
She got out of her lab to retrieve Vibranium, which she still hadn't found, and she had completely lost all her abilities against their opponent.
"Come on, wake up, Thena." Riri's sobs pulled Shuri out of her contemplation as she looked over at her. "Please don't leave me, Thena. Not now. You can't leave me all alone..." Her sobs intensified as she hughed TJ's limp body.
Deaf. A dull silence was all that answered Riri as she cried and begged for help, and Shuri didn't move—too distraught to do anything.
"We should—" Nakia's voice was calm, steady, and Shuri hissed through her teeth. She already knew what they had to do. They had to help Riri.
Shuri lifted her head to the sky and gestured to the ship above them, then walked over to Riri, who, upon seeing her, flinched and hugged TJ's limp body even tighter. Nakia sighed deeply.
"Don't come near her." Riri hissed through her teeth, glaring at them. A scowl painted across her young face.
Shuri rolled her eyes. "We are not going to do anything to her. But we do have to get going, we cannot stay here—not after what just happened. And I still have to find the Vibranium." She announced unceremoniously.
They really didn't have any more time to waste. The longer Shuri stayed out of Wakanda, the more likely she was to get caught by her mother, T'Challa, and Bucky.
Shuri reached out to Riri who looked at her for a moment before grabbing her to stand up, leaving TJ lying on the ground. Riri switched places with Nakia who bent down and grabbed TJ, before they headed for the ship where they all settled down while Okoye flew into the air to be on their way to continue their search for the Vibranium.
A long, tired sigh escaped Shuri as she flopped into her seat, alongside Riri, who followed Nakia with her gaze as she placed TJ on the healing platform she was operating so she could run some tests on her. However, just as Nakia was about to start the first test, her Kimoyo beads on her right wrist went wild before turning from light purple to dark purple.
Seriously?
Nakia froze, looking at her wrist above TJ's body. Her Kimoyo beads went even wilder, and Shuri held her breath, just like Riri.
"Princess." Nakia stood still as she looked at Shuri, a solemn expression on her face.
Okoye turned around just as Nakia spoke. "The Vibranium signal is following us," Okoye announced.
"Search her." Shuri ordered, standing up, and before Riri could even react, she turned to her. "Have you checked her?”
Riri didn't answer immediately, she swallowed. Of course. Shuri didn't need Riri to answer her, she just did it without meaning to. So Nakia nodded and began to search TJ, slipping her hands into her pockets and X-raying her. Once she was done, Nakia turned around to Shuri again and shook her head to let her know she found no trace of Vibranum on her.
But her Kimoyo beads still hadn't changed color, and were still glowing out. So Shuri approached TJ's inert body, and in turn passed her Kimoyo beads over TJ to see the same result as with Nakia.
Something was wrong.
"Griot, run a cell and blood analysis on the patient.”
Simple. Firm. Shuri didn't look further because she knew something was wrong, and despite her best efforts to find a reasonable answer, nothing came to her—nothing. And Shuri couldn’t fathom that.
Griot promptly obeyed the order. Shuri, meanwhile, instructed Okoye to bring them back to Wakanda before she went to Griot's analysis monitor to monitor the progress of the tests.
Impatience grew inside Shuri.
A lump formed in her throat, and the anxiety she had been pushing down every day since T'Challa's death increased.
Shuri had a bad feeling.
She had a bad feeling about TJ and that whole thing.