Disclaimer - I don't, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or its Intellectual Property. This is all just so that I can take my maladaptive daydreaming and turn it into something so that it does not ruin the rest of my day.
DoorMan #54
Stark Industries, LA[February 9, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
This was supposed to be impossible. Everyone said so, the Ancient One, Jin'Ya, hell the freaking Vishanti were reported about the supposed working mechanism of his powers and they didn't object to any of that.
So, how–how in the hell is a tree with a Door attached to it suddenly in his mindscape, in the middle of the cycle? There were still about 7 more months before he got an extra Door that he would then attach to a dimension that would make a tree sprout in his mind, supplying him energy from that particular dimension.
This….This lighting door was not something that should have happened and had never happened in the past 7 years or so that he had his powers.
His eyes opened as he looked at the now whispering group, with Stane speaking into his phone anxiously. His gaze then snapped to the housing that kept the Arc Energy contained and noted the ebbing of the energy before it came rushing back at full force, hitting the containers. He also noted the slight tremors in the ground, generated from the containment unit getting hammered with energy.
He knew there were bleed off mechanisms in place but the question remained : For how long? How long until the output became too much for them.
Out of all this, the one thing that stood out to him was the connection he felt, with the energy inside. He could barely control himself from opening a Door and letting loose the energy from the newest door that he now had access to. This was all very new and he had never felt this level of feedback from his powers. They had always been passive, letting them be used whenever he wanted to.
Right now, he was not feeling like–
"Okay, kids, a little technical issue has arisen and that is why we will be cutting this trip short. Now, why don't you all turn around and exit the same way we entered, alright? In the meantime, I have to make some calls, okay? Alright." Stane said and then stormed off, screaming into his phone, into a door that opened just for him.
Everyone kind of just looked at each other for a moment, not knowing what to do, despite being told exactly, and then he had to take the lead. Taking a step back, he asked his fellow interns, "Come on, what he said."
As all of them speed walked out of the building, he could feel the tremors increasing as the time went by, and the attraction with his powers increasing as well, as if there was something in that energy that he needed, something that the Doors wanted.
His gaze never left the Arc Reactor Tower even as he felt the lights in the surrounding buildings dim as the Tremors began receding. He was sure that the rest of the people barely felt anything but he knew something was wrong with that specific Arc reactor, and he was going to find out what.
____xx___
Wakandan Royal Laboratory
–Shuri Udaku–
"Like I told you before, you are not following the Council's orders anymore. They don't know the first thing about science. No, you are going to do as I say or you will find yourself in need of a job. Am I clear, T'Kama?" She really had to put out an organisation wide notice someday because she was getting really tired of finding out what and how the Council had put their hands on, in the Royal Lab.
"Yes, Princess." The man bowed and left the lab, downtrodden.
She snorted as she turned around and glared at the bystanders, "What are you waiting for? You have your tasks, get on with them."
"Shuri." She whirled around before her mother could speak. "Mother." She curtly greeted her before turning around to continue working on her panel.
Today was one of the days she had expressly reserved to work with the people in the Labs so that everyone could see her work, and also to get the weekly report about everything she had put into motion. She had realised that Wakanda as a country had grown stagnant and comfortable, not just in terms of defense but also in terms of scientific discovery.
\Where most scientists gave up when it seemed like too much work, and moved on to the next method of discovery, Wakanda's scientists prioritised finishing a school of thought, thoroughly documenting it before moving onto the next stage, after exhaustive analysis of the failure. While not a wrong method per se, it still created a lot of overhead that—
"Shuri, can we speak? Private?"
She sighed and turned around, "Sure." She walked towards the smaller conference room, something she had built for herself because she needed to work on her projects she had set in motion for the outer world.
Shell Companies, Trust funds, Charities, Consultancies, Labs, Hospitals, Orphanages and everything in between. She was going to have to create such a large chain of everything to actually make sure that the medical advances she is going to share with the rest of the world are not buried in some technicality.
She was also fairly certain that even after going through this ridiculous process, someone was going to stop her and that is where Colin would come into play, or at least she hoped he would come. She hadn't had the time to see if he had replied and the isolated network she used to communicate with the best hacker on the planet was kept buried in a Vibranium shell with no connectivity whatsoever.
It had been 24 hours she had been working nonstop, perks of being Bast's chosen so she might just have to take a break and see if Colin had actually replied or–
"Shuri, you are not listening." The concerned look of her mother came into view as she sighed and leaned back into the seat. She looked out of the one way glass as people continued working under her. She already had two complaints about heavier than expected workloads but the sooner people realised that this was going to be the norm going forward, the better. They couldn't prepare themselves fast enough even if all the scientists began working exactly to her tune.
Looking back at her mother, she replied, "What is there to listen to, Mother? You know what Father did and you know my views on it. You know what I plan to do and you know the staunch opposition that I will experience. Despite knowing all of that, you still side with Father." She leaned forward, looking into her Mother's now sad eyes, "So, tell me, Mother, what else is there left to speak?"
"Shuri, your father, he made some mistakes but you have to understand that–"
"No, mother. I don't think there is anything you can say or Father can do that will make me forgive him." She then stood up, "Now, if you will excuse me, I have been working nonstop on a project that will give us some chance of being accepted properly by the rest of the world when we are exposed."
"That. Why do you say that as if it is inevitable. As if it is only a matter of time before everyone comes to know about Wakanda. We have remained safe and hidden for centuries and nothing–"
"Because people already know, mother. People already know about Wakanda. I don't think Father told you this but there is someone out there, someone I met when I went to the States last week. He was put on the hit list for the so-called Greater Good project and the guy already knew about Wakanda, about me, about everything."
She watched as her mother's eyes widened in horror and then realisation. "Yes, even if, and that it is a big if, the War Dogs were capable of silencing him, he had multiple dead man's switches that would have given away not just Wakanda's secret, but our location, our shields, Birnin Zana's defenses, the Tribe composition, how our army is inexperienced in actual warfare and more."
She kept talking as her mother all but collapsed into her seat, "The guy would have destroyed Wakanda as we know it and all of that because the War Dogs thought that he would reach our current level of computer efficiently in a couple of years."
Seeing her completely silent, Shuri stated with an air of finality, "So, Mother, no, I will not be forgiving Father and I will most certainly not be sitting back as Father continues to endanger our country's existence. I will be making it official soon anyway but since you are here anyway, I suppose you have a right to know."
She took a deep breath. Best to rip off the band-aid now, lest she regret it later on, "I am going to challenge Father for the throne, by the old rituals."
The silence in the room was deafening as she made her declaration.
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