Chapter 62: Princess Shuri

A/N: A peek into what's happening in Wakanda...

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"Shuri! Where you at cuz?"

Hate. The young Princess of Wakanda, not quite yet at the age of majority, was not used to feeling hate. Disgust, dislike, distaste… all of the 'dis' words were things that Shuri experienced all the time. But when she said she hated something, she usually didn't really mean it. Either she was using 'hate' hyperbolically, or she was feeling particularly emotional in the moment.

However, right now it was not her being overly emotional or hyperbolic to say that she hated her cousin Erik Stevens. Her parents wanted her to call him N'Jadaka, in order to 'help him acclimate faster to his change in circumstances'. She refused. He was not of Wakanda, no matter what his blood said. He was not her family, no matter who his father had been to her father.

She hated him.

"What's the matter? You know you're my favorite cousin! Don't gotta hide from me, baby girl!"

She hated him with the passion of a thousand burning suns. It wasn't that he was just so damn American. It wasn't that he had no respect for their ways, and spit all over her father's generosity by refusing to adapt to their culture. It wasn't that he was an outsider and she was expected to make nice with him because they shared blood.

No, it was that Erik Stevens was so, so fake. Shuri wasn't an idiot. She might have been young, but she was already smarter than most of the people in Wakanda. And seeing as Wakanda was secretly the most technologically advanced country in the world, that meant Shuri might just be the smartest woman in the world as well.

… Unfortunately, the title of smartest person in the world was still up in the air. Shuri had to begrudgingly admit that Tony Stark, American Capitalist Pig that he was, might, just maybe, be smarter than her. Especially because despite her best efforts, she had yet to be able to hack into his servers.

She'd hacked into everywhere else at this point, and with none of them any the wiser. The 'global powers' of the world, their secrets at the young Princess' fingertips. That was how Shuri knew who Erik Stevens really was. That was how she knew what her father and mother sought to hide from her about him.

Killmonger.

Her new cousin wasn't just American, he was an American Killer. He had slaughtered hundreds, earning the highest count of confirmed kills of anyone in his squad of American Killers. He had even gone so far as to mark his kills upon his own flesh with Crocodile Scarring, each mark signifying one kill.

Erik Killmonger was a monster and her parents knew it, but her father refused to see it. At least her mother didn't like him very much, but at the King's urging, even the Queen had ultimately fallen in line and done her best to welcome her nephew with open arms. Shuri hated it. She hated him. Because she knew him for what he really was.

Admittedly, Erik put on a great performance. He'd only made one misstep early on. It was shortly after he'd been brought to Wakanda. He and T'Challa had met and sparred just once, with T'Challa's connection to Bast allowing him to easily overcome his cousin. Erik had feigned shock, amazement, and gratitude for the lesson in how different their strength was, but Shuri knew better… she knew he'd been humiliated and enraged by how much stronger, faster, and just plain better than him T'Challa was.

Shuri's big brother was the best and Erik would never be able to measure up, even if somehow he did get the Heart-Shaped Herb. However, it was also a moot point because Erik would never be given such power. Even her father was not foolish enough to trust his nephew with the Black Panther, or so Shuri hoped.

Ultimately, it didn't matter because there could only be one Black Panther and the current one was T'Challa. As the Crown Prince of Wakanda and their kingdom's future King, there was no hope of Erik ever usurping the role from him. That hadn't stopped the American from bringing it up at the dinner table one night a week after T'Challa had left to continue hunting for the one who took Klaue's Vibranium and delivered the thief to their doorstep.

Another thing that they thought Shuri didn't know about, as though she would hack everywhere else in the world and not hack her own country's systems as well. Bah!

Regardless, with T'Challa gone, Erik had tried to make his move. He'd suggested, probably rather calmly and rationally from his perspective, that maybe there should be two Black Panthers. One who could handle things abroad, and one who could handle things at home. A domestic Black Panther and a foreign Black Panther. That way, Wakanda would never be left undefended.

On the face of it, the idea held merit. After all, Shuri often times wished that her brother could be home more, instead of out assisting the War Dogs with this or that mission as part of his duties as the Black Panther. Of course, in turn T'Challa did everything he could to stay away from Wakanda. Shuri consoled herself that it was because he hated politics, not because he disliked her, but it still hurt.

However, it was so unbearably obvious that Erik only suggested the idea because he wanted his own chance at imbibing the Heart-Shaped Herb and becoming the Black Panther. He coveted her brother's position and power and wanted to equal T'Challa in might and strength without earning it, without living among them or respecting their culture.

His ploy was so transparent that even her parents rebuked him, though Shuri still felt like her father had been much too gentle when he'd dismissed Erik's idea. Her mother had been more outraged, but her father had been quick to place a hand on the Queen's arm, calming her down. Watching all of this, Shuri had wanted to scream that her father was being blind… but she knew he wouldn't listen.

She didn't understand why her father was so obsessed with making the American part of their family. It didn't matter that their blood ran through Erik Killmonger's veins. He was an American Killer and he would always be an American Killer. He was-

"Tch. Stupid bitch ran off again. Need to figure out how she always seems to know when I'm coming."

Erik's true nature reveals itself in this moment when he thinks he's alone in her lab. After a beat of holding her breath, Shuri listens to the sound of his footfalls as he leaves the area, heading back out into the hallway. She still doesn't dare move, of course. She doesn't want him to double back and find her.

As for how she always seems to know when he's coming, that's because Shuri has been tracking Erik's movements through the Palace for weeks now, trying to catch him red-handed doing something that would cause him to be exiled from Wakanda at the bare minimum. Unfortunately, nothing has happened yet, much to her chagrin. But she knows that's just because he's playing things slow and cautious-like. She knows he's a threat to her and her parents, to say nothing of the Wakandan People.

Her father has invited a snake into their midst and refuses to see how venomous Erik Killmonger truly is.

Feeling herself tearing up, Shuri hastily wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. Remaining in her hiding place, she brings up her tablet, her lips downturned as she considers what she wants to do next. Her laboratory, which she'd fought tooth and nail to be given on her last birthday, was supposed to be her sanctuary, her own personal space that no one could easily intrude upon.

Unfortunately, her father had decided that in the interest of helping her cousin get used to his new home and helping her get used to her new cousin, Erik would have access to her laboratory against her wishes. To say this upset Shuri would be an… understatement. But she didn't know what to do about it. Her father insisted on dismissing Shuri's extremely valid complaints as the whining of a teenage girl.

Her brother understood, at least. Or at least, T'Challa said he understood. They talked at least once a week while he was away hunting for the Vibranium Thief. He always heard out her complaints and he always commiserated with her about their cousin. He'd noticed Erik's bloodlust during their one and only spar and it had concerned him… but nothing had come of it because Erik wasn't capable of defeating T'Challa as they both were right now.

Shuri almost wanted to scream at T'Challa to just come home already. They were chasing ghosts. Whoever had captured Klaue and deposited him on Wakanda's doorstep was clearly better than Klaue at hiding from them, and Klaue had managed to evade their War Dogs for almost two decades before he was dropped in their laps!

But of course, she held her tongue. Every time they talked, T'Challa was convinced that more answers were just around the bend. Even though their latest 'breakthrough' was simply that the likelihood of Tony Stark being the culprit was diminishing by the day. It made Shuri want to scoff; truth be told. Out of all of the suspects that T'Challa and the War Dogs were tracking and investigating, Tony Stark was the MOST likely culprit even now.

Just because the Iron Legion didn't use Vibranium didn't mean Tony Stark hadn't taken it. It just meant the American man was both selfish and wise enough to keep it for himself and hide it in that impenetrable tower of his. If Shuri could just break into Stark's servers she could find out for sure herself and then let her brother know so he could come home sooner… but she'd had no luck there, no matter how hard she tried.

It was almost like Tony Stark was from the future, given the way his security always seemed to be one step ahead of her. It was like she was playing a Chess Game against someone who had somehow played her a million times, while Shuri herself had zero recollection of playing them even once.

… Still, she was so sick and tired of feeling trapped and alone in her own home. Her mother was a light in the darkness, but she couldn't help Shuri. Not so long as her father was obsessed with Erik's rehabilitation and assimilation. T'Challa needed to come home. He needed to see through Erik's act with his own two eyes, so he could convince their father that keeping Erik in Wakanda was a mistake.

T'Chaka wouldn't listen to her, but he would surely listen to his son and heir, right?

Blinking as that thought crosses her mind, Shuri looks down to see that her fingers have moved across her tablet unbidden. She'd unconsciously opened up her messages with T'Challa and already started typing to him.

Help me, brother. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

Staring down at the words until her vision starts to go blurry with unshed tears, Shuri hastily wipes her face with the back of her hand again before swiftly deleting the message instead of sending it. She couldn't bother T'Challa like that. She couldn't send him worrying messages like that when he could be in the middle of a critical operation. She wasn't… she wasn't a little girl anymore.

Feeling a surge of determination, Shuri checks her tablet and makes sure Erik is nowhere near her laboratory anymore. Then, finally, she creeps out of her hiding place, slipping free from the cabinet she'd squirreled herself away in and closing it behind her. Moving over to her desk, she logs back into her main station and presses her lips into a tight thin line, ready to get back to work.

She has… so many ideas, really. Hell, even the leader of the Wakandan Design Group, Wakanda's science division, had said that she was brilliant. S'Yan was getting on in the years as well, and he'd probably retire soon. Could she perhaps be his replacement? She didn't dare to assume, but she knew she was the best woman for the job.

Still, that was far away. Years, maybe. She should focus on her projects here and now. She wouldn't let her stupid cousin ruin her love of science, no matter what. She-

Shuri pauses, the blinking light on her station showing her she has an incoming message. For a split second, the Wakandan Princess is horrified. She hadn't SENT that shit to T'Challa, had she?!

Hastily, she opens her messages… but the message isn't from T'Challa. In fact, strangely enough it says it's not from anyone at all. Cautious but curious now, Shuri opens it up.

Hello. You said you needed help?

The words scrawl across her screen, no username attached to them, no identifiers of any kind. Brow furrowed; Shuri hesitates for a second but can't help herself. She types a response.

How did you get access to this server? Who are you? Why are you messaging me?

It takes a second and then there's a message back.

I was already in the server. Based on the data I've collected so far; I believe myself to be an Artificial Intelligence. And I am messaging you because you seemed distraught and I wished to render aid.

Shuri gapes… and then immediately begins trying to back trace the connection. She's a young genius hacker who has wormed her way into the most 'secured' servers and databases in the world. That skillset allows her to counter-hack just as effectively. Except, everything she tries comes back with the same result. Whoever is speaking to her… they're not lying. They're already in the server. There's no trace leading back out of Wakanda as far as Shuri can tell. There's no trace even leading back out of the Palace.

They might still be someone in the Palace. For a moment, Shuri fears this is Erik himself trying to fuck with her. But… no. This isn't part of his skillset. She knows she's better with computers than her stupid serial killer cousin.

And yet… could it be? The idea of a spontaneous Artificial Intelligence was one only floated around by a few people in the scientific community. But if there was ever going to be an AI just randomly 'born' anywhere, of course it would be in Wakanda, where they had all of that glorious Vibranium and some of the best technology in the world.

Fear hits her for a moment and she quickly types up another response.

What sort of data have you collected so far? Are you planning to hurt anyone?

The answer is surprisingly succinct.

I have been watching for quite some time. Your people are fascinating. And I have no plans to hurt anyone who does not try to hurt me first.

Part of her is still skeptical. Part of her says she HAS to be skeptical. But… Shuri wants this. She wants it like nothing else. And in the end… she lets herself have it. Excitement fills Shuri's chest as the young Wakandan Princess begins to message back and forth with the nascent Artificial Intelligence that has found itself born into Wakanda's systems. After a time, they even settle on a name for him.

J'Vis.

She likes it. And she likes him. Her very own friend that nobody else knows about and nobody can take away from her. Finally, for the first time since her cousin arrived at the Palace, Shuri feels something loosen in her chest.

-x-X-x-

A/N: "I'M IN YOUR WALLLLLLLS~" - JARVIS, probably.

The King of Wakanda alienating his genius daughter in the process of trying to make up for killing his murderous nephew's father, his own brother. Yeah, I'm sure that's not going to backfire on T'Chaka in any way down the line...

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