"What? How can that be?" T'Challa asked grabbing my other arm and inspecting it closely, "I'm not sure, brother but we need to analyze her further."
T'Challa nodded and dropped my arm as did Shuri, "Go tell Okoye that we are leaving for Wakanda soon." Shuri nodded and headed out of the office and down the stairs. Tony looked at T'Challa before he spoke, "Stark, we must take her back to my country, you do not need her, correct?"
Shaking his head, Tony replied, "No, your majesty we do not. If it will help her find out who she is and why then do what you need to do." Looking at the floor, I spoke to T'Challa; "I would rather not leave Tony, why can we not do it here?" I had become very attached to Tony, even though he's a smartass. He was like my older smartass dad/friend. "Because the technology we have in Wakanda is more advanced and Shuri's lab is there as well. We will leave when you are ready."
Tony put his hand on my shoulder and nodded his head, "It's okay, Ana. You gotta do this. It could be an amazing scientific discovery. You could help change something." I turned towards Tony and hugged him, "You're my best friend, Stark. I do not wish to leave."
He hugged me back, "And you're my breast friend, Ana." I let go and rolled my eyes at his corny ass joke. "Gonna miss you, kid."
I looked to T'Challa and nodded as I gave Tony one last hug and followed him down the stairs. "I need to stop at my apartment, your majesty." Rolling my eyes at the 'your majesty' part. "We will stop so you can gather belongings and then we are off to Wakanda." I followed him out the back door where a large foreign ship sat. I saw Shuri talking to a woman who was taller than me and a shaved head. She was Dora Milaje.
That's one of the main things I remember from Wakanda. The group of talented, warrior women who protected the King of Wakanda. As we got closer, T'Challa spoke, "Okoye, this is Nkosazana. This is one of my Dora Milaje, Okoye." I waved at her and she nodded her head at me, "I remember the Dora Milaje from when I was younger." I spoke as we got into his large ship, it was amazing. It looked much nicer than Tony's Quinjet. T'Challa motioned for me to sit down in a chair and he sat next to me as Shuri sat across from me, studying my arms. Okoye went to the front of the ship and we took off towards my apartment.
"Does it hurt?" Shuri asked running her fingers over the lines, I shook my head 'no' and looked at her, "No, I don't remember how I got them. I just remember that it happened when I was younger and it hurt then. So much so that I couldn't move."
When we arrived to the front of my apartment building, I stood up and started walking towards the door. I put my hand on it and it opened automatically, I looked down and saw we were about 15 feet from the ground. Growing closer, Okoye parked the ship in the middle of the road. I walked off with T'Challa and Okoye following.
"How did you do that?" T'Challa asked, shrugging my shoulders; I kept walking next to him, "I don't know, it's just something I can do. Tony hates when I unlock his car before he gets a chance to." I chuckled at the last part before we entered the building.
"After Shuri studies you, I would like to see what the extent of your powers are if you wouldn't mind."
"Do I really have a choice? I'm kinda stuck with you at this point." I replied chuckling again, I walked up the two flights of stair before pulling out my keys, as I walked up to my door. It opened and I walked in as they followed, Okoye walked around with her spear, she had her guard up as she always should. T'Challa spotted the artifacts I had from my father's lab on my bookshelf, he walked over as I grabbed my duffle bag and started shoving the somewhat small amount of clothes I owned as well as some personal items. "These are Wakandan." T'Challa stated more than asked, "Yes, they were my father's before he passed. I am ready to go."
Pulling my duffle bag onto my shoulder, I walked over to the shelf where T'Challa was and put the artifacts into my bag as well as some of my father's books. "Then let us go." Okoye spoke as we walked out of my apartment, I stopped at my counter where my notepad was. I used it to write what I needed from the store for Tony since I couldn't go outside during the day. I wrote Tony a small note and followed them out the door before locking it. I followed them down the stairs and back onto the ship.
"So, when did this happen to you?" T'Challa asked as we sat back down, Shuri was studying the sample that Tony gave her again. She scooted over to me and pulled a strand of my hair out of my head, "Ow. I don't remember many things from when I was younger. I know it was progressive from a young age but I remember bits and pieces of Wakanda."
"Shuri might be able to help with that-" T'Challa started to say before Shuri cut him off, "I don't know brother, it might not work...this is amazing!" She looked closer into her microscope before continuing, "Even her hair has specs of Vibranium in it!"
Shuri started gushing about how she couldn't wait to get me to the lab so she could investigate me further. This was going to be a very, very long trip.
After a few hours of sitting around, listening to Shuri and T'Challa, I started looking through my phone as I heard Okoye say, "We are here." T'Challa tapped my shoulder and motioned for me to follow him. "This is my favorite part." He spoke as we walked to the front, I watched out the windshield as we got closer to a large forest. My chest tightened up before the ship disappeared through the trees and I saw a large, beautiful city.
We got closer to the a landing area, I remember this from when I was younger, I used to run around this area looking at the clouds and skies. We landed and the door opened, everyone walked off and I followed. A group of Doras and a older woman stood across from us about 50 feet away. Shuri walked to the older woman and hugged her before taking her place on the woman's right, they watched us walk over.
"Hello, mother." T'Challa spoke as the woman gave him a hug. They stepped aside so I could see the Queen Mother. Her breath stopped for a second before tears welled in her eyes. "You look just like her, you are the spitting image of your mother."
"You know who she is, mother?" Shuri asked slightly shocked, I looked down and stared at my feet. "You remember your father's friends, Lulama and Kagiso?" Shuri looked a little confused but T'Challa nodded his head, "The former researcher."
"You were just a baby then, Shuri. But you remember their daughter, my son? This is her. Nkosazana Amori. But everyone called her Ana or Zana." She wiped her eyes and continued, "I don't know if you remember me, I am Ramonda." She hugged me tightly and smiled, she looked so happy.
"You both were bestfriends when you were children, you would run around this area playing tag." She continued looking at me then looked to T'Challa who was just as shocked as I felt. She smiled at me before noticing my arms, "What happened? Your father did this? I will have his head!" She was angry, I shook my head and replied, "No, Queen Mother. I don't completely remember everything but..my father died. Years ago."
"Oh, I'm sorry. My condolences are with you, my dear." She said, "Do you remember that? Running around and playing?" T'Challa asked trying to see if there was even a tiny bit of my memory from Wakanda. "I do not. I remember us being forced to leave by my father." I replied before Shuri stated how she had to get me to the lab as soon as possible. "I will see you in a little bit, Ana!" T'Challa called to me as we disappeared into the palace.
To say Shuri's lab was simple was exaggerating, it was a gigantic room with many, many machines and tech. She pulled me to a table and told me to lay down, she told me to close my eyes and relax as I heard complete silence. It was nothing but her breathing and my breathing. "I'm going to scan your body and then have a closer look at your organs and bones. This machine is powered by Vibranium so it should be pretty exciting and accurate seeing as how you have Vibranium inside you. After this, I want to try our recognizant memory chamber to see if we can tap into memories your brain has chose to hide or push away." I nodded with my eyes closed still, a few minutes went by and she gasped quietly, before speaking again; "This is impossible, absolutely impossible. Your organs, they are completely armored by Vibranium. Your nerves and bones are flowing with it as well. This would have taken years to accomplish."
My father did try for not a lack of trying. I thought to myself sarcastically. "My father, what did he do?" I asked her as she continued to work diligently. "He used to do what I do, research. Work on the tech, my Baba used to say great things about him and your mother. Why did he leave Wakanda?"
"I'm not sure, I don't 100% remember why, I know it was before your birthday because my umama and I were making you a dress. I know my father stole Vibranium. He kept talking about exile for a very long time."
She told me to open my eyes and stuck a microscope very close to my eye while talking, "It's a wonder how you haven't collapsed or gone blind-the Vibranium has completely mutated your cells and taken over your irises. It's as if the Vibranium has completely molded to your body. You can get up now, follow me." She started walking away as I got up from the table and followed her over to a high tech computer. She took the vial of blood and stuck it in a circular holder, the screen woke on the computer and data about my blood started showing up.
"This is very impossible, you have Vibranium molded into your DNA as well as.." She scrolled down some more and her eyes widened, "The Heart Shaped Herb." I remember this from stories my mother told me, the new King drank the Heart Shaped Herb in order to gain powers of the Black Panther.
I looked at my arms and the purple veins that adorned them, That couldn't be possible. My father was a great person, how could he steal from our only home? Vibranium is a serious offense but the Heart Shaped Herb is instant jailing, and you basically stay there for life. She pressed one of the circles on her bracelet and a video popped up of T'Challa, "Yes sister?"
"Brother, you must come to my lab and see my findings. It is nearly impossible what I have found." She pressed the circle again and the video closed, "What are those?" I asked pointing at her wrist, she looked at the bracelet. "These are kimoyo beads, they are powered by Vibranium. This is the Prime bead, we use it for medical knowledge, the AV bead which is used for access to the Wakandan database, and the Communication bead; it is like a mobile telephone that you use. Other beads can be added like security, or GEO tracking."
Nodding, I faintly remember my father having one when I was a child, he would never let me but I never understood why. T'Challa walked into the lab, "What is up, sister?"
"Brother! Look at what I found." She exclaimed motioning for him to come over to the computer, he walked over as she pointed to the screen. I saw his eyes scan the screen then look at me, "The Heart Shaped Herb? But how?"
"I'm not sure, I want to try the memory chamber to see if it's in her memories." Shuri replied before pulling me over to a cylinder vertical chamber, "This is the recognizant memory chamber. We put you into a trance by injecting a mix of several sleeping medicines created from Vibranium that will put you into a deep sleep, we inject it into your bloodstream and the chamber taps into your memory synapses."
T'Challa had his hand on his chin, watching me intently, I felt my anxiety flare up and my cheeks turn pink. I do not like people staring at me, it made me feel more embarrassed of how freaky I already looked. I stepped inside the chamber as she stuck a needle into my arm, injecting the liquid into my arm. I felt myself slip away as the chamber closed.
