Revamped!
Chapter 20: African Storms Part Four
Wakanda's Palace - 6:03 AM
Iqadi charges through the palace where she sees maids and guards scurrying all over the place. Nobody knows what to do nor whom to follow orders from. Iqadi knows that in these situations, they would listen to her father and then her mother since they are the highest in command. The problems were that her father was gone physically and her mother mentally. Iqadi believes her mother is grieving in the worst way possible.
The country is relying on her now. She's the Black Panther.
Iqadi pauses, allowing that thought to process. She has been preparing for the throne for as long as she can remember and if one were to ask her if she was ready yesterday, she would've said yes in a heartbeat. Now, she wasn't a hundred percent sure on what to do. Too much is going on for her to focus.
"Iqadi!" Imanu exclaims as he approaches her. She notices how soaked he is. "Something is wrong with your mother! She -!"
"She is grieving," Iqadi says bitterly.
Imanu shakes his head. "Iqadi, she's not."
Iqadi walks past him. "Imanu, I don't have time for this."
"Iqadi -"
Imanu doesn't say anything more but follows her. He looks down and puts a hand on her shoulder to stop her but she quickly brushes it off to hide her current emotions and show a brave face. She thinks that she can just mourn later when everything is calm again.
"I have a country to save," she says, running off. Her black catsuit starts pixelating onto her body. "I'm the Black Panther now."
-o-
Imanu knew that if Iqadi would handle her mother and the storm, he had to check up on something that's been eating at him since Ororo said it. The King is dead. There was too much wrong with how she told him and her reaction, followed by saying that the country was on fire when it wasn't. She's seeing and believing things which is why he doesn't believe their king is dead. He runs past the panicking staff, ignoring those who call him.
Imanu enters the healing room. Once the door closes behind him, all outside chaos is blocked out.
He walks slowly, heart racing. He's never been in this room but he's studied it early on in his prince consort training. The borders and walls of the room have the glowing fruit of the heart-shaped herb. Wakanda's native and most sacred plant. It's usually consumed by the ruler and the heir to the Black Panther mantle to obtain the Panther's enhanced physical abilities. Iqadi doesn't consume it because she and everyone else are unsure of how the fruit will combine with her weather manipulation. Her parents are against it but Wakanda's council believes it will do Wakanda and even all of Africa good. T'Challa and Ororo, even Iqadi and Imanu, are scared of it grabbing her powers and controlling her instead of the other way around.
Imanu approaches the pit and knew something was off.
If Queen Ororo said King T'Challa is dead, there would be dirt everywhere from proving that. Iqadi wouldn't have checked because she would've believed her mother and be too overwhelmed with grief, taking the mantle, and now the storm her mother is creating.
Imanu doesn't see anything. The dome of the earth where T'Challa was buried is still a perfect circle. There's not one crack on the surface.
He hasn't risen yet.
-o-
Ororo unleashes her lightning beneath the entire country and sends it to the tops of the trees. They're being torn from the ground and flown, roofs from houses are being ripped, rivers are overflowing and flooding the land. After that comes the roar of thunder at the sound of her majestic voice. When her voice resounds, she holds nothing back. The people below are scared, panicking, and crying as they see their queen floating in the centre of it all, controlling it with her hands. They take cover, hiding inside what's left of their houses.
Ororo believes the country is on fire and only created a storm to extinguish it all. She sees flames everywhere, eating her country alive. Little did she know the true destruction she's causing.
Iqadi runs out of the palace and straight into the chaos, ordering guards to get the people to safety. She looks up into the black sky and feels the rain stab her face through her mask as she turns her own eyes white, focusing on her weather-manipulating powers. The moment she spots her mother in the air, she stands right underneath with her hands in the air and wrists twisting. She fills her hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark.
A storm. A bigger storm than Iqadi's ever managed and, if possible, a storm bigger than the one her mother's. Over the years, Iqadi's only relied on lightning strikes, high winds, and fog - quick effects for attacking and defending. Even then, she's rarely used them. She never needed to. She has never needed to build and sustain a massive storm upfront before.
Not much can take out her mother. Some called her Mother Nature which was truly a fitting name. How can Iqadi go up against that? Is she even worthy of the mantle?
Iqadi doesn't stop. Instead, she surrounds her mother with storm clouds of her own. Lightning strikes by Ororo, stinging her eyes with their brightness. Iqadi's lightning stretches nearly a mile wide but her mother sweeps it away with her hand as if it was nothing which brings in a tidal wave of her wind powers. Iqadi screams as she strengthens her winds, making it howl as her feet slide back in the mud due to her mother.
"Rage winds, your mistress craves more!" Ororo cries out to the skies.
From above, Ororo looks down. Where Iqadi stands, she only sees a massive flame spreading its spark. She sees it growing bigger and brighter. The dark clouds swell around as Ororo makes the thunder rumble at her fingertips. Her left-hand hand twirls, spinning the winds to build up the pressure in the air and allow more of the storms to gather within her. Ororo points her arms in that direction and sends the winds, rain, and lightning in that direction. Iqadi holds her hands out to block it but knows that it will be much too strong for her. Eventually, she falls back, grunting as she rolls in the mud. Her head hits a rock and she's glad she put her suit on.
Her eyes revert to dark brown. Her storm dies down.
"The elements belong to me!" Ororo exclaims as a lightning bolt crackles behind her.
The winds swirl into a vortex, its velocity as fast as possible. Its strength continues to tear the country into shreds. Ororo's vortex splits into thirds, creating three separate wind funnels that she pushes out into Wakanda.
Iqadi stands up again, her head now throbbing from the change of pressure caused by the storm. Ororo constantly swipes her arms, sending different projectiles at Iqadi who's trying to regain her footing. Iqadi tenses as she feels something slice the surface of her arm, through the suit. She takes a glance and sees blood pouring out. Her mother is too powerful for her suit. She ignores it.
Iqadi reenters the centre of the storm and raises her arms once again, turning her eyes white to attempt to take control. Iqadi roars, blood dripping from a split lip, as she clenches her raised fists to create a tornado to send her mother to the ground. She sends in some powerful rains as well, turning it into ice shards on their way down. She calls on more of her clouds to stop her mother, but not to the full extent of her ability to show the love she has for not only her mother but for her country as well. Both of which she wouldn't want to inflict any more damage.
Her mind feels like it'll explode due to all this pressure she's putting on her mutation. And her father is dead. She's the Black Panther. She can't even stop this storm so how can she protect Wakanda? Iqadi's heart starts pounding and her flooding emotions.
"I - " Iqadi struggles. "- I can't -"
She forces herself to stop. Iqadi throws down her arms as she stumbles into Imanu. He drags her behind a tree that's still attached to the ground as protection. Iqadi clutches her chest, gasping for air.
"She's too powerful for me…" Iqadi says, panting. She lets out a sob as she catches her breath, holding up an arm to shield herself from the storms.
