Scott's POV
After Shadow King's mind games, I'm unsure if I even want to wake up. I fell unconscious after being crushed by rocky tentacles, but the scariest thing of it all was the peace I felt when I thought I was about to die. Maybe Rachel is not the only one who needs therapy.
But now I am slowly getting my wits back. The blackout fades into a stupor. More thoughts creep in and they become less like dreams and more controllable. I start to wonder where I am. And as my body gains feeling, I wonder if it is even Cairo. My skin is met by cool air. I instinctively try curling my body in on itself. I'm not sure if I should open my eyes, because whoever brought me to where I am may have removed my visor.
"I'm fine, brother. I'm just checking on one of the white boys. Griot just told me he's awake," I hear a distant feminine voice. She has an African accent, similar enough to Ororo's but not quite. The speaker is young, a teenager maybe? Did a family find us in that alley and bring us in?
"You can open your eyes. You won't blast anything."
It takes me a second to recognize she is talking to me. Once I realize my visor is still secured on my face, I slowly open my eyes. Around me is a high-tech lab, industrial lights shining off of metallic surfaces. If I hadn't already come in contact with more scientifically-advanced aliens like the Shi'ar, I would think that a lab like this was only possible in the movies. I sit up, meeting the owner of the voice.
The girl in front of me is definitely a teenager, with a braided hairstyle and dark complexion. She wears some sort of chunky, beaded bracelet, and with a tap of her finger, one of the metal beads projects a blue hologram. She holds it up to my temple without a word.
"Are we still in Cairo?" I ask.
"No." She must be pleased with whatever the hologram says because she closes it out and puts her wrist back to her side. "You're the first one to wake up. My brother will be here soon. Don't touch anything."
She walks away. I slide off the edge of the table and follow her. "Where are we if this isn't Cairo?"
"You broken white boys and your questions," she tsks. "This is Wakanda. My Brother and the Dora Milaje brought your team here after finding you in Cairo. They thought maybe you wouldn't wake up."
I stare at her, trying to make sense of it all. What the fuck was Wakanda? "Are we still in Egypt at least?"
She looks at me like I'm the stupidest creature to ever walk the earth. "Wakanda. Not Cairo. Not Egypt. We're a third-world country apart of the UN."
I look around at the technology around us. "This doesn't look very third-world."
"And you don't look smart, yet here we are. You're figuring out our secrets," she snarks and turns her back to me, working on some sort of device.
"Are you teasing our guests, Shuri?" A new voice filters into the room. This time, a man enters, his hands clasped behind his back. Behind him is a group of bald women in armor, holding spears. The man smiles kindly at me. "Forgive her. I am afraid what Bast blessed her in intelligence, she lacked in manners."
The girl, Shuri, scoffs. "I have manners, I just chose when and where I want to use those skills. My lab, my rules. And if I remember, I'm doing you a favor by babysitting the mutants instead of my important work."
I stand between the two as they banter, but the man finally turns to me, "I criticize her about her manners, but where are mine? I am King T'Challa, and I am certain you have many questions. I hope I will be able to answer them. To begin, the rest of your team is safe. They are healing at their own rate from the psychic attack. To the best of our ability, it does not seem like it will have any lasting effects on them, however, no one here is an expert on this subject. This is definitely more in your people's realm of knowledge."
It takes me a moment to comprehend everything he said, being too taken aback by the fact that he just casually introduced himself to me as a King. What do people do around royalty? Should I be bowing?
"Why exactly did you bring us here?" I ask instead, not with the intention of sounding rude.
"Our shamen have been watching The Shadow King's movements for quite some time. He has been causing quite the interference within our ancestral planes. We tracked him to Cairo, although your team beat us to him. When I saw Ororo was one of you, I knew we had to lend a hand after the attack."
"You know Ororo?" We go to her home continent and out of the millions of people living here, we somehow run into someone she knows. Who happens to be the king of some futuristic country? What are the odds of that? And why had she never told us?
"Yes, I met her in Cairo when we were both young children. My father had business there and I had wandered off. Ororo tried to pick-pocket me. But we became friends and I looked for her every time we returned to Cairo. we lost touch over the years. I always wondered what happened to my favorite thief. I am glad she's well."
"She'd be doing much better if we hadn't come to Cairo looking for her kidnapped daughter," I say. "I don't suppose you found a baby, did you?"
T'Challa frowned, shaking his head. "No, unfortunately not. There was not a baby on our radar. Are you sure she was in Cairo?"
"Shadow King took her there. Our Leader, Professor Xavier, tracked her location there. We heard a baby crying but when we got to where it was coming from, all we found was Shadow King."
"What does he want with a baby?" Shuri asks, turning from her worktable. "Surely he could find a better host than someone who isn't even potty trained. Maybe he is not as smart as we assumed he was."
"I imagine it has less to do with her being a baby and more to do with Ororo's abilities. Weather Manipulation is not a weak power. If she is anything like her mother, she will be just as gifted."
"Yeah, in a decade. I'd want powers like that too but I'm not waiting ten years for them to come in. In that time, I could invent something to give me those powers. Probably in half the time if not less." As she speaks, the metal beads on her wrists buzz and a voice overhead speaks. "Patient three is awake, Princess. Shall I alert her that you will be right there?"
"Thank you, Griot. Let her know T'Challa is on his way," she looks at him. "That's Ororo. Unless you think it's not a good idea to make Nakia jealous, you should go see her."
"What on earth does Nakia have to be jealous of? Ororo is one of my childhood friends," T'Challa heads towards the door and motions for me to follow him, which I do. The walls of the hall are lined with glass backlit with blue light. Our footsteps echo in the metallic hallway, along with the guards who flank the king's side.
Everywhere I look appears more like a Shi'ar ship than something that should be on Earth. It has me questioning what else is hidden on our planet that we simply don't know about. What would have happened if someone like the MRD had access to this technology?
The walk is short and we get to another room, Where I had been placed in what seemed to be the main lab of the facility, everyone else was separated into different observation rooms. Ororo and Jean lay on tables identical to the one I woke up on. Glass with the same blue lighting separates the two halves of the room. When Jean is still unconscious, her stats are displayed on the table above her head. Ororo is sitting up, looking just as confused as I felt when I woke up.
"T'Challa?" She made a face as if she didn't believe who she was looking at. Her eyes dart between us, looking to me for an explanation. Luckily T'Challa explains it, as I am not still entirely sure what is going on.
"So you couldn't find Kendall?" Ororo frowns once she gets a rundown of the situation. "But Jean said she was close!"
"Jean also said that she lost her almost immediately after finding her. This all could be one of The Shadow King's tricks," I reason. I don't know what happened to her before she fell unconscious, but I had my lungs crushed by stone. If The Shadow King can give me the illusion of almost dying, I'm sure he could produce the sound of a crying baby.
"We will try to find her," T'Challa said. "Stopping him before he can take a host is of our utmost importance, especially if the host is an infant."
"But," he continues. "There are limits to what we can do without a telepath strong enough to defeat him. Your friend tried, but she took the worst blow of all as a result."
"Professor X once defeated him," Ororo says. "He could do it again."
I shake my head. "He did not defeat him if he is still around. He only weakened him."
"Then maybe with Jean and his power combined, he can defeat him. Or Rachel."
"Absolutely not," I say, immediately. "I'm not putting that danger on my daughter."
She looks at me, eyes hard as the stone that consumed me. "I wish I had that choice, Scott. But we cannot always protect our children. My daughter is out there, somewhere, in the custody of someone who wants to take over her body. With the Phoenix, Rachel may have a chance against him!"
My fists clench at my sides, I feel them trembling as I glare at her from behind my glasses. "And if she doesn't, it's both of their funerals."