Chapter 10- Shuri
A lot of things were going on at the same time. Shuri was multitasking. She was fighting a robotic octopus while lecturing her friend, who was in his underwear. And, at the same time, she was panicking because there was no way her older brother wasn't on the way to New York right now, to chew her out and take her home. She had only heard Ned's half of the conversation between himself and T'challa. Had heard Ned say that he was nothing in comparison to her. If she hadn't been locked in fierce combat she would have tried to build up his self-esteem. But she had more important things to deal with.
"Disable the machine and then we can take down the man," Shuri yelled at Peter, taking a break from lecturing. Peter nodded and flung himself at the robotic tentacle, ripping it in half once he got a good grip. Shuri was blasting off as many tentacles as she could with her arm cannons, to the point where the villain stopped them and asked her what kind of tech she was using.
"Vibranium, idiot." And while she was eloquently responding, Peter was manually flipping through web options and taser-webbing the guy.
They obviously had this in the bag.
"This is super easy, barely an inconvenience!" Shuri yelled at Peter.
"It wasn't as easy alone!" Peter shouted back.
"Then you shouldn't have gone in alone!"
"I didn't have backup before!"
"You will always have backup!" She dodged tentacles as they argued. Yes, this was super easy. It would have been easier if she was more awake though.
"Thank you, Shuri!"
"You're welcome!" For a second, she thought about asking him what his favorite musical was, and all the other things on her list. But that would've been bad timing.
And, speaking of good/bad timing, suddenly, behind the villainous octopus that they hadn't gotten so much as a monologue from, a figure appeared, silhouetted perfectly with light coming from somewhere. Her brother had entered the fight. She motioned to Peter to step back because when T'challa entered fights, he finished them. It was only a matter of moments before their handiwork was complete, and both man and machine were disabled.
T'challa was obviously furious.
"Shuri!"
"I'm sorry, brother!" She apologized rapid fire. T'challa was about to continue when he noticed Peter.
"Why are you only in your underwear?"
"That guy messed with my tech, low power meant I could only leave my comms and web shooters active. So my nanosuit kinda disappeared."
"I'm glad you don't wear nano-underwear," T'challa responded, and Peter's face turned bright red.
"You and me both."
"I'm going to get you some clothes. Shuri, Peter, have a rest, your lecture will come soon." That was her brother. Even mad out of his mind he was going to be brotherly and take care of people. Peter and Shuri sat down on a stairway and waited for T'challa's return. Only after a moment of silence did they remember Ned, and both started talking at once.
"Ned, I'm safe, Shuri saved me, I'm fine!"
"My brother found us, I'm probably grounded for eternity. Peter will have to tell you about the battle it was crazy."
Ned was silent for a few seconds, and Shuri almost wondered if he had fallen asleep.
"I'm glad you're okay, do you want to go to breakfast?" Shuri was taken aback by the response.
"Sure," Peter replied.
"Not you, Peter. You have to own up to Aunt May and whoever else is in line to lecture you, and you need to get your concussion checked out. You don't have time for breakfast." Shuri watched Peter's expression change to sadness and anxiety.
"But want breakfast," he whined, causing Shuri to laugh.
"Eat a poptart," Ned advised.
"Fine."
"So, Shuri, join me for breakfast?"
"I'd have to ask my brother. He might not be in a breakfast kind of mood. And I owe it to him to respect his decisions right now."
"Okay. I'm going to a diner near that convenience store where we met. Got a big egg-shaped sign, you can't miss it. I'll be there at 6. If you can make it, great, if you can't, that's okay too, I wish you the best dealing with your grounding." Shuri smiled and then noticed that Peter was giving her a funny look.
"What?"
"Ned, we're disconnecting. Try to get some rest before breakfast."
"Oh, okay." Shuri followed Peter's lead and turned off her kimoyo beads.
"What is it, Peter?"
"Do you like Ned?"
"Yeah, Ned's a nice, cool guy." Peter didn't press the matter, he didn't get the chance. Clothes were being hurled at him.
"Get dressed, we will get you home and then I have to have a long talk with my sister." As promised, they got Peter home so he could have his own long talk. Shuri checked her watch, 5:38.
"Listen, T'challa, I know you have a lot of things you need to say to me, but if this is my last day in America, I'd like the chance to spend part of it with a friend. Can I meet Ned for breakfast at 6?"
"I do not trust him. But I know that you do. Today will not be your last day in America, just your last day in New York. If this is so important to you, you can meet up with Ned."
"Thank you!" She gave T'challa a big hug.
"You are still in a lot of trouble."
"I know."
"When you get back to the Outreach Program, your efforts need to be entirely focused on the outreach, in whatever capacity we deem necessary."
"We?" Shuri asked.
"Your adventures today have made things very clear. I want to be consulted about every decision you make. That includes business and personal." Shuri looked at him in surprise.
"You want to approve what I wear and what I eat for dinner?"
"If your wardrobe put you or Wakanda at risk I would want to approve of it. I mainly want to know about where you're going and who you're talking to."
"This is worse than grounding," Shuri said flatly.
"If I could take time away from Wakanda to help you make those decisions I would, but that's impossible. So, for a while, you need to run the important things by me. Understand?"
"I understand." She had put her brother through a lot today. He deserved her respect.
"Just until I can trust you again."
"So you don't trust me anymore?" Shuri was stunned.
"After everything that just happened with the blip, I'm not sure what I trust in anymore."
"I understand that too."