Revamped!

[After writing all this Iqadi and hearing all the positive buzz from the media, I need to see Black Panther … after I see Thor: Ragnarök because I still haven't seen that either]. [2020: Just watched Far From Home so I'm caught up].


Chapter 87: The Contingency Plan Part Seven

Location Unknown - Time Unknown

Iqadi wakes up to a cold surface under her body. She squeezes her eyes shut, head spinning, stomach churning. She feels numb but simultaneously her whole body aches - she's in pain but feels nothing at the same time. That benefit came with her father's training: she was trained to withstand pain as much as possible. She could be stabbed and she probably wouldn't feel it. Iqadi lifts her hands and sees them covered in blood. Her suit is bloodied which is probably how she ended up on the floor. The metal taste is also in her mouth which she just swishes around in there. Iqadi tries to haul herself to her feet but her head spins even more so she stays on the ground. She looks up and sees the man behind all this.

"Who are you?" Iqadi asks, her voice staggering.

The man lets out a guttural laugh. "Wrong question, Princess. You should be asking yourself if you're prepared to lose your friends."

"I already lost them."

"Fair point." He keeps his gaze on her. "I guess I should answer the top burning question in your mind as to who I am just so you'll feel even more embarrassed."

The man bows his head and places his hands on the base of his neck. He begins peeling back his mask and Iqadi's eyes start to open wider when she sees that familiar head of salt and pepper hair. When she finally looks into the revealed almond eyes, her jaw drops in pure shock.

"Agent Tapper?" Iqadi questions only because she still can't believe it. "But … why?"

"Project: New Generation," Mike replies, now slightly angered. "I never supported them and neither did the Council at first, but for all those years, Director Fury kept on pushing the idea. Eventually, as you all got older and your abilities came in, and most of you attended The Academy, the Council started to see the potential in you. Their trust came only because you were the kids of The Avengers. You're all intelligent and talented, don't get me wrong. Fast-forward some more years, give you guys some training, the best education, some successful weapons, and now we have a dream team."

Iqadi pauses, needing to take in Mike's words. Was he crazy, yes, but that didn't take away the validity presented in his arguments. None of that demonstrated a motive but she could sense one.

"You have issues with envy," Iqadi spits in his face. "You probably wanted to be on the Council and created this scheme so you could prove you were right and then they would have no choice but to let you become a hologram with more authority."

Mike grins from the corner of his mouth. "And there are the analytical skills that the Council loves so much from you. I will admit, I hired Sergei Sorokin to be my scapegoat and my financier. He was easy to persuade into this and he got a little thief to help out. How she got your plans is still a mystery to me but if Sergei didn't die, I would've thrown him under the bus in a heartbeat. You made this extensive and expert plan, Princess, and now you're lying in your blood."

Iqadi puts a pained hand to her inflamed forehead. "I'm aware, please be quiet."

He laughs to himself. Iqadi rolls on top her side to ease her throbbing side. Hopefully, her tight suit will make up for the pressure she can't put on it at the moment.

"Your plan is illogical," Iqadi tells him. "You got mad at SHIELD for putting blind faith in Project: New Generation when you had blind faith in a plan made by someone in Project: New Generation."

"It would've all led back to you and then SHIELD alongside their international relations workers would have to deal with Wakanda. In the severity of the situation, I would assume it would end in war because nobody could compensate over the dead with mere words and condolences, especially kids with their statuses as Avenger children. Even if your father is friends with The Avengers, they will still tear through your borders on behalf of their children."

"You want to start a war against Wakanda? That is blatantly idiotic on your part. We had guns when you were still throwing rocks at each other so the technology we have now is centuries ahead of your mundane comprehension. You wouldn't be able to enter our waters or our airspace without us blowing you to bits. You're betraying SHIELD."

"You betrayed your friends in order to please your country."

Iqadi looks up in an offence. "Pleasing and protecting are two very different things."

Iqadi suddenly feels her side heat up. She curls up a little, murmuring to herself as she closes her eyes tightly and breathes heavily. She doesn't look up but she can hear Mike taking a few steps around her in a circular motion.

"Are you praying to your God for forgiveness?" He asks her.

"I don't need forgiveness from him," she responds, finally putting one of her hands on her bleeding wound to add a weak amount of pressure since her strength is just gone. "Just know that you picked the wrong person on the team to drag back with you. I can rip the air from your lungs with the strength of a hurricane. I can poke at the electrical impulses in your brain and make your death look like a seizure. Or I could be nice and freeze your heart after shattering your veins."

"In that case, any last words?"

Iqadi hears a gun being cocked and pointed right at her head. She scoffs, only an incredibly slim part of her believing that this is the end. The other part still believes that she has a chance.

Iqadi spits her blood at him. "Tell Imanu that his anniversary gift is hidden in my vanity."

Mike tilts his head a little. "You're bleeding at my feet and yet you're dedicating your final words to your husband? I expected a beg for mercy."

Iqadi finally stands up, placing her hands behind her back. "In every one of his self-proclaimed flaws, I see perfection. He's the best prince I could've ever married. It's because of these plans that I proposed to him and dragged him into my life, but it's also because of these plans that we don't have a child!"

Now, she's angered. Now, her adrenaline is pumping through her veins. She has to use that anger and that energy to take back control over the choices she had to make and act on her threats. Those last five words triggered her to the extreme. Iqadi pulls out two vibranium shards from behind her back as her suit finishes crystallizing on her body. She connects them together and stretches them to make a vibranium pole. Iqadi swings it before locking it under her arm and holding it out towards him. She screams in rage before attacking.


[Ah, yes, so it was an agent of SHIELD against them this whole time. And we will get back to that "child" concept in a few chapters. Any of you see that coming?] [2020: Recently wrote the child concept in SA and I will never recover].