Birth and First

-- March 13th, 1998 --

Inside the room, only the doctors, nurses, and Queen Ramonda were present, as well as the members of the Dora Milaje that were standing around to protect her. The queen was lying on a table with a large tummy while all the doctors were encouraging her to push.

"Queen Mother. We need you to keep pushing!"

"Agh!"

"That's excellent, My Queen. One more. You must push out the girl!"

Queen Ramonda gave one more push with a loud shout. A small baby girl was slowly pushed out of her body before she was dragged out the rest of the way by the doctor. The doctor passed the baby to one of the nurses who quickly checked her vitals.

After confirming that the girl was alright, she put the child in one of the carts next to the bed. Right next to her older, twin brother.

The doctor looked over both the children before looking at the queen and giving her a bright smile.

"Congratulations, my Queen. You have given birth to two healthy twins. What shall you name the prince and princess?"

Queen Ramonda began to sit up on the bed. The others tried to stop her but the stern look in her eyes told them that there would be no discussion. She wanted to hold her children.

"Pass them to me."

The nurse nodded before she brought the babies over to the queen and carefully placed them in her arms. Queen Ramonda looked at the pair of pure children in her arms with nothing but love in her eyes.

"The boy shall be named J'Zaki. The girl shall be Shuri."

The Dora Milaje banged their spears on the ground before repeating the names. "Hail, Prince J'Zaki! Hail, Princess Shuri! Hail, Prince J'Zaki! Hail, Princess Shuri! Hail, Prince J'Zaki! Hail, Princess Shuri!"

King T'Chaka and Prince T'Challa heard the cheers from outside the door. The man and teen rushed into the room to see the newborn members of the Royal Family.

King T'Chaka was the first to receive the children. His wife passed them both over to him. King T'Chaka held both of the children close to him before whispering something none of the others could hear.

"Your brother may be destined for the throne, but you two are destined to support him and bring Wakanda to new heights."

The king then passed both of the children to their older brother, Prince T'Challa. T'Challa was much older than the twins, already 17 years old. His parents had given birth to him much earlier in order to secure the royal bloodline but they made the twins by complete accident.

T'Challa rocked the two babies in his arms. J'Zaki was tired and was trying to sleep in his brother's arms while Shuri was much more energetic as she was trying to pull at her oldest brother's beard.

"These two are so cute. Are you sure they are related to you two?"

King T'Chaka smacked his son on the back of his head.

"Of course we're sure! Don't forget, you are also one of our children!"

"Yes, yes, Father," T'Challa immediately gave in. His father would often try to playfully strike him, forgetting that he was the Black Panther and had superhuman strength.

"Enough playing around, you two. Pass me back my babies."

Queen Ramonda took back the two children and rocked them in her arms. She saw that J'Zaki was started to wake up with tears in his eyes while Shuri was beginning to get agitated. The queen began singing a lullaby to lull the twins to sleep.

"Come stop your crying

It will be alright

Just take my hand

Hold it tight

I will protect you

From all around you

I will be here

Don't you cry"

Listening to her voice, both babies quickly fell asleep without making a fuss.

"Excellent," Queen Ramonda smiled at the pair. "How I wish that you both will stay like this forever and not grow up like your brother."

-- October 25th, 2008 --

A young Wakandan girl was pulling her older brother's arm, urging him to speed up. Beside them was another child that looked to be the same age as the girl who showed no interest in the activity that they were about to participate in.

"Come, Brother! We have VIP seating so we must hurry to the front!"

"Calm down, Shuri," T'Challa tried to calm his very eager sister before turning to J'Zaki to make sure that he hadn't gotten lost in the crowd. "J'Zaki. Do not walk too slowly!"

J'Zaki hummed in agreement but continued to walk at his own pace. T'Challa noticed this but did not say anything further. He knew that J'Zaki could handle himself in a small crowd like this. There were also 2 members of the Dora Milaje watching them so that was an extra layer of security.

The young man stood out from the crowd due to his high-quality yet traditional Wakandan clothes. Unlike him, the two children looked very western as they were wearing jeans and T-shirts with funny phrases on them.

The trio was visiting America because this would be the press conference where they could gain information on the recent hero known as Iron Man from Tony Stark himself. Shuri was a fan of both Iron Man and Mr. Stark, the former because of his powerful suit that was already putting ideas in her head about the next panther habit while the latter was because of her respect for his genius.

King T'Chanka and Queen Ramonda were not such fans of his. Both were more traditional than they were... modern. Because of that, they refused to bring Shuri over for it.

But the little princess was not one to be denied. She begged and pleaded for her eldest brother to bring her while also forcing her 2nd brother to go along with it in order to add more pressure on T'Challa.

And it worked.

Faced with both of his siblings begging for him to take them, T'Challa could not refuse them. After confirming a reservation for the event, the trio was aboard the next plane that would bring them to America.

Shuri kept trying to push through the line but after so many attempts, she was forced to give up. The royal family trio waited at the front of the line for another 15 minutes before they were finally let inside the venue.

Shuri and the others took up most of the front row. There were only 7 seats in it. The last two seats were occupied by a red-haired woman and a black man in a military uniform.

After another 10 minutes, the black man sitting next to them walked up to the stage and stood behind the podium.

"Hello. I am Lieutenant James Rhodes. I wish to welcome everyone to this event. And now, Mr. Stark has prepared a statement. He will not be taking any questions. Thank you."

Tony Stark walked in from the side. As he was walking up the stairs and Lieutenant Rhodes was walking down the 3 steps, they paused as they made a small exchange with one another.

Tony Stark stood behind the podium before he began speaking on the matter that everyone was curious about. "Been a while since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time. There's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop..."

A woman stood up from the second row and interrupted his speech.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared despite the fact that... "

Rhodes looked at her and glared. He was about to call security to drag her out but the woman beside him stopped him by shaking her head.

"Let's trust him on this one," she whispered to him

Rhodes shook his head but didn't continue trying to get security.

"I know that it's confusing. It is one thing to question the official story and another thing entirely to make wild accusations or insinuate that I'm a superhero..."

The reporter interrupted again, "I never said you were a superhero."

"Didn't?"

"Uh-uh."

Tony Stark looked both offended and confused before he regained his composure and spoke confidently once again.

"Well, good, because that would be outlandish and fantastic. I'm just not the hero type, clearly, with this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public..."

Tony stopped when he saw Rhodes mouthing, "Just stick to the cards."

"Yeah, ok. Yeah."

Mr. Stark looked at the cards in his hands for a moment as if he was thinking about something. He then threw the cards down when he decided what he wanted to say.

"The truth is: I am Iron Man."

Shuri began shouting in excitement when she heard him admit. Her two favorite Americans were the same person!

Shuri began shouting in excitement when she heard him admit. Her two favorite Americans were the same person!