Revamped!

[Okay, so, since I have nine chapters for this story ready to go, my plan is to publish them daily since I have a four-day weekend and I'm taking a break after. Actually, my break has already been for weeks since that's how long ago I finished the chapters lol.

In all honesty, this is my FAVOURITE chapter to date. Absolute fave]. [2020: Yeah, this chapter is epic].


Chapter 91: The Truth Comes Out

SHIELD Supreme Courthouse - 7:37 AM

As the sun starts its rise, the judicial staff take their seats in the courtroom. They rise as the members of the Council all walk in, standing in their orderly fashion in a line of five. Their faces look sterner and more serious in person than in their holograms. Once they take their seats at the stand, everyone else sits when they're told. When the atmosphere is settled, they hear the growing sound of clicking heels coming their way. They know who it is since she's the only person missing from this room who was ordered to be present.

"She's got quite the entourage," Councilman Lausanne mutters sarcastically to the one next to him as their main attraction arrives.

Iqadi enters the courtroom without stopping at the doorway. She has nobody by her side, not even a lawyer or international representative on behalf of Wakanda. She wears a white, tight, fitted pantsuit that was cropped at the ankle to show off her white heels. On top, she wears an unbuttoned off-white blazer with a sleeveless black top. Her face is bare, with no makeup, and her hair is tied back tightly with her natural curls bunched behind her head.

There's grace and mystery in her attitude as if she was being a symbol of an unknown innocence that's exposed to everyone else. A frozen silence follows her entrance. Not one person takes their eyes off her or bows for her. Today is not the day to pity her.

Iqadi takes her seat at a table below the Council's row. She crosses one leg over the other and folds her hands together on the table, looking up and directly at each council member, waiting to start.

A legal assistant approaches her with a plaque being held out. It has SHIELD's laws engraved into it. Iqadi puts one hand on it and the other held up as she faces the Council.

"Do you, Princess Iqadi, swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Any statement other than that will be charged as an act of perjury."

Iqadi inhales as a typewriter types furiously. "I swear."

Iqadi sits back down, straightening her blazer.

"Good morning," Councilwoman Kwon starts to the court room. "Let's begin with today's court order. The following document, classified as top secret by the Wakandian Department of Defense and titled as 'The Contingency Plan,' was created by Princess Iqadi T'Challa of Wakanda seven years ago. Princess, is that true?"

"Yes," Iqadi starts.

"How are you feeling today, Princess?" Councilman Lausanne asks her casually.

"I'm the centre of turmoil so I'm not doing well."

"Just like you, Princess, we sent your husband, Prince Consort Imanu Luyano, a subpoena like yours to show up today and we did consider travel time and jet lag when we chose a date. Why is he absent?"

"I interfered with the delivery of his subpoena to make sure it didn't reach him. This is solely my problem. He wasn't my husband at the time I created the plan, just a suitor."

"I sensed that statement the moment you walked in," Councilwoman Kwon states. "Unless you want to get caught up in criminal charges for that interference, I suggest you cooperate."

"I showed up and swore an oath, didn't I?"

Some judicial staff smirk behind their papers and screens. The Council didn't find that amusing at all. Even Iqadi purses her lips in a smile.

"Princess," Councilman Rosario says, "your father, King T'Challa, has been working on creating a public image of Wakanda for us for decades. Your nation has become an ally with SHIELD, despite this secrecy and now we see that you have contingency plans against our own. How do you explain that?"

"Defence," Iqadi argues. "During The First World War, Germany had the Schlieffen Plan. During The Second World War, the Allies had Captain America. For New York, you had The Avengers. And now, you have Project: New Generation which my name is on. What is your reason for having a team of superheroes on your side? Defence, is it not?"

"Point made, Princess. So from your statement, it seems as if you made a protection plan against your teammates who are also your friends and you hid it for seven years. Must have felt good."

Iqadi pauses, needing a moment to replay his words in her head. She's taken aback by his colloquial statements. Nobody in the stands knows or understands what she had to go through.

"Have you ever killed someone?" Iqadi asks him in return.

Councilman Rosario raises an eyebrow, not expecting that question. "I was a field agent for twenty years so yes, I have."

"No offence but that's different and it never feels good. Even the planning of it hurt the soul."

Councilman Rosario looks at his other council members. They're starting to digress and he isn't sure where to bring the court order.

"How does it feel, Princess?" Councilwoman Ameen questions. "Killing someone?"

"I've killed many before," Iqadi says, "most of those were in self-defence or in defence of others. I wouldn't say they felt good but they felt right given the moment, but there are some I can't recover from. A gun not only shoots the victim but the shooter as well. One does not get to choose."

"Clearly, these plans are showing some emotional trauma that's deeper than the surface or your friends," Councilwoman Ameen continues. "As a mother of three, I can't help but notice the way your eyes are when you speak of this courage as you hold yourself high. What's on your mind?"

Iqadi sits back in her chair, thinking back to those seven years when she first made the plans up to where she is now. What lies deeper than the guilt within her friends were memories that she wishes she could suppress. It affected her family. The councilwoman who brought this up was a mother of three. Iqadi thinks about how lucky that lady was to have had three children grow inside of her to bring into the world and raise … and it only reminds her that her plans were the reason why she couldn't grow one.

"Princess?"

Iqadi is suddenly brought back to reality, unaware that she zoned out. She looks up and sees all the members of the Council looking at her. This time, their faces are soft and sympathetic. Iqadi looks and sees a box of tissues suddenly on her table in front of her. She feels her cheeks with one of her hands and sees that they're both damp with tears she didn't know she cried. Then, she realizes that her other hand rests on her abdomen. Iqadi blinks, and more tears fall on that spot.

"Princess?"

Iqadi takes a tissue and dabs at her eyes gently. She bunches the used tissue into a fist as she sits up straight again. She clears her throat.

"Two years after Imanu and I wedded, I got pregnant," Iqadi explains softly. "The baby wasn't planned. Imanu and I thought we would expand our family after we succeeded my parents since we were still so young, but we were happy. Surprised, but excited. That phase was with me for a while but then, I became paranoid. I started wondering in the worst-case scenario if my plans ever had to touch the surface and kill my friends. What if they were to have children and I orphaned them for my country's needs? I had nightmares of them dead at my feet with their children screaming for their parents to come back, and others where I was beating myself to a pulp with the plans scattered. I felt guilty for having those plans, I still do, even if they were in the back of my mind and made to protect my country. The guilt started to eat me from the inside and then it ate my baby. I woke up one night in my own blood."

Iqadi is silenced by herself for a moment. She takes a breath and chokes on a sob.

"I lost my baby…" Iqadi admits, feeling as if it was the first time she ever said those words aloud. "I didn't care if that hurt me but it hurt my husband. I couldn't bear to look at him for a while after the miscarriage because I felt as if I took that away from him."

"I am sorry, Princess," Councilwoman Ameen sincerely tells her.

Iqadi nods a thank you to her. The other Council members share their condolences as well.

"I felt selfish," Iqadi continues. "I married Imanu because I fell in love with him after he assisted me with my plan. I took him into my life and I couldn't return him the chance to hold his baby because of my problems."

Iqadi stops herself, focusing on her breathing. She glances up at the members of the council who have now huddled in a tight circle to discuss what to do now. Iqadi's eyes remain on them the whole time, even when they disperse to their original spots.

"Aware of your loss, Princess," Councilman Neilson says, "that still doesn't excuse you from the charges set forth because of your plans. Yes, Agent Tapper did put them to use but they were aimed at an organization that your country has made an alliance with. In short, you will hand those remaining plans over to us, Princess."

"I will do no such thing," Iqadi tells him.

"You harmed our agents -"

"Your arguments are complicit. Those agents of yours are much more my friends than they will ever be yours. I have lived with such guilt for years as I kept this secret from them. I lost a baby because of that secret!"

"Princess -"

"I am loyal to my country and vow to protect it by any means possible. Those are my people, my blood, and soul; I am their Princess. None of you have any idea what it is like to be in my shoes, what choices I have to make, sacrifices I have to live with. That is why I created the plans. I am loyal to my friends which is why I made plot holes for them to crawl out of. I vowed to myself to protect them. All of you who belong to SHIELD claim the same desire for the world and yet you have betrayal within your own circle. I suggest you check the loyalty of the agents who wear your uniform and represent you in the world before you check up on your allies."

Before any of the council members could formulate a rebuttal, Iqadi stands up and strides out like the confident and courageous woman she knows she is.

Nobody tries to stop her.


[Yes, I planned for Iqadi to have a miscarriage because of the plans. I hinted back at it during her first arc]. [2020: You could read it in SA].

[Also, I put a lot of thought into Iqadi's appearance in the courtroom and I'm talking English-class analysis with the colour symbolism and all that. I'm very proud of myself.

And forgive me for not knowing how courts work, I'm not in law school (yet)].