Shuri didn't take Peter immediately to her lab.
There were a lot of sights to see, and she was pleased at how interested he was in everything around them. The palace loomed above them, spires and impressive architecture, glass, steel and rock. All designed and built to be beautiful. Shuri was proud of the capitol city, and took him to an observation area that gave him an amazing view of the entire eastern side.
"Your home is lovely," Peter told her. "I can't believe it's remained hidden for so many years."
"My ancestors were wise enough to understand that human nature would compel others to seek to capitalize on the abundant riches of Wakanda, and were quick to guise the land as a simple group of farming communities not worth noticing for its lack of resources."
"How do they manage to be so advanced and still stay true to their traditions?"
She smiled.
"It is something they want to do, so they do. We make sure to have traditional ceremonies when at all possible, and include traditional clothing, dancing and singing. You saw some last night. Well, you slept through it, but the others saw it."
"I hope I didn't offend anyone."
"No. Everyone knows how far you had to travel to get here. Tony and Pepper were badly jet-lagged when they first arrived here, as well. I think it was sweet; you falling asleep on Tony, like you did."
"I wasn't on him."
She smirked and held up her phone, showing him a picture she'd taken. Sure enough, his head was on Tony's leg, and despite himself, Peter smiled at the expression that was on Tony's face just then as he was looking down at him. A little amusement and a lot of love.
"I love this picture," Shuri said. "It is obvious he really cares for you. And – unlike many of the Wakandan men – he does not even try to hide it."
"Yeah," Peter nodded his agreement, not at all self-conscious about being in the cross-hairs of so much love. "I think he does that to bolster my confidence. So there's never any doubt how he feels, you know?"
"Yes." She looked like she might have said more, but a bird moved overhead, catching his attention. "That is an Ibis. They are greatly prized for bringing luck. An old tale says that an Ibis is the bird responsible for bringing Vibranium to Wakanda."
"Oh?"
Shuri shrugged.
"We know better, now, of course, but tales can be fun, too."
"What all can Vibranium do?" Peter asked, curiously. "I mean, I know you made my polymorph with it, and it's flexible, but I haven't experimented with the metal in it – I didn't want to mess up to the nanotech or anything."
"It's incredibly versatile," she told him, moving once more, now. "For one thing; it enriches the soil. Plants grow better and healthier where there are any traces of it. Animals, also. When mined and used as metal, it is as strong as steel, and a third the weight. It has a few interesting innate properties. Come, I will show you an example that might interest you."
They went to her lab, then, and Peter looked around, amazed. Not only was it large and airy, but the tech was easily on par with what they had in the compound – and honestly, looked even more impressive.
"Wow."
She preened.
"My brother allows me free rein to do whatever experiments I desire." She led him to what looked like a table, but when she swiped her hand over it, a holographic image came up. Peter recognized it as Wakanda, itself. There were colors separating water, and land, then also delineating grasslands from forests and plains; also he saw a dark gray that was mostly under the ground – but was everywhere. "The gray is vibranium deposits. In its raw form. If I showed you where all vibranium was in Wakanda processed and otherwise, the entire city and much of the landscape would also be gray."
"So it really is everywhere."
"Much as concrete and steel are used for your infrastructure, vibranium is used here. Although we also use regular building supplies for our cities – they are just augmented with vibranium."
Peter nodded his understanding.
"No wonder you didn't mind making my polymorph out of it. You guys have so much."
"It is our greatest resource."
He smiled.
"I'd say you are Wakanda's greatest resource."
That made her blush with pleasure at the praise, and Peter's smile turned into a grin, pleased that he'd made her smile. She was far more lighthearted in nature than he was – and he knew it – but it was good to see her smile like that.
And besides, he meant it.
"Let me show you something," she said, moving over to a human shaped stand that had a piece of fabric on it, looking like some kind of tunic. "Come here."
He walked over, and she picked up the fabric and draped it over his shoulder. To Peter's surprise, it moved on him, like the polymorph did, until it was covering his entire upper torso, arms and even his hands. He looked down at it, and realized that it wasn't fabric, at all.
"This is like Tony's Ironman suit. Nanotech forming the needed shape?"
"Yes. Impervious to many forms of attack, and even better – using the vibranium instead of the metals Tony uses allows the properties of the vibranium to be manipulated." Shuri picked up a heavy stick and brandished it at Peter with a challenging gleam in her expression. "Do you trust me?"
He nodded.
"Sure."
She swung the stick at him, and he forced his reflexes to hold still, not dodging – even though he could. The blow landed against his shoulder, but he only knew it because he saw it. He didn't feel any impact, and stared.
"It absorbs the impact," Shuri explained. "The vibration. I could beat on you until the stick breaks, and you would not feel a thing or have any bruises."
"That's incredible."
Once again she smiled that proud smile.
"Now you understand some of why it is so prized."
"Yeah. Do all of T'Challa's guards have this?"
"It isn't completely integrated into their uniforms, no. The nanotech is complex and requires a mental connection. Similar to what Tony has in his suit with his AI, from what I understand from my discussions with him. "Not everyone is capable of interacting so seamlessly with an AI like he can. So it won't work for them all. They use it other ways."
"It's still really impressive."
"Let me show you more."
They spent several hours in her lab, and she showed him a few of the current projects that she was working on. Peter had already known that she was brilliant, but the lab and the tech and her ability to understand it all so easily only cemented that observation of his. By the time his watch chimed at him, and Tony called to see if they were ready for lunch, he had to wonder just how amazing would it be if Tony's Ironman suit was made of vibranium, instead of its current properties? Or, also interesting; if his Spiderman suit was made of it, would it be flexible enough for him to actually be able to swing through the city in it? Or would it hold him back? Obviously, he couldn't really ask her – and even if she knew his alter-ego, if he mentioned it, she might think that he was trying to get her to make him a suit of it – and he wasn't certain that he really needed anything that incredible for the little crime-fighting he did in his spare time.
But it was interesting to think of.
"We are having lunch in the same room we broke our fast this morning," Shuri told him as they left her lab. "Then you will be given a chance to get some more rest before dinner. You should take advantage of it, Peter," she told him. "Tonight the tribes will be reenacting hunts, and some of their traditional stories – complete with ceremonial garb, just like we were discussing. You will not want to miss it. It is very exciting."
"It sounds great," he assured her. "I'll make sure to be wide awake, this time."
They spoke of other things as they walked through the broad, airy hallways, and Peter recognized the different designs on the walls leading to the door of the room that they'd had breakfast in. Shuri winked and took his hand just before they walked through it, looking as casual as if they'd been holding hands all the way from her lab. Peter saw that T'Challa and Tony both noticed, immediately, and he forced himself not to grin at the way the two men were still trying to decide what – if anything – was going on between the two teens.
He let her go so that she could go sit with T'Challa, and Peter took the empty spot between Tony and Pepper, both of them greeting him with a touch of some kind as well as a verbal hello.
"Are you hungry?" Tony asked.
Peter knew he was going to use that as a gauge to check on how he was feeling, and wasn't surprised when the billionaire's hand went to his forehead, briefly. He didn't mind; it was another one of those ways that Tony told him he loved him. He was always checking on him.
"Yeah. Starving."
"You saw Shuri's workroom?"
"It's amazing," Peter told him. "You've got to check it out."
"I plan to." He smiled at the girl, who looked pleased at the praise. "I hear the things coming out of that room are pure magic."
Shuri hid her blush as well as she could.
"It is simply ingenuity and know-how coupled with technology, Tony," she told him. "Everyone knows that there is no such thing as magic."
