Infinity Era

by JDPrime22

Chapter 51 – Heart

Steve Rogers was led this time by the young Wakandan princess within the depths of quite possibly the most magnificent sight he had seen in his long, still somewhat short life. Joining him—always close by his side—was Natasha Romanoff on his left, Phil Coulson on his right, and three very special agents that chose to further understand the full weight of the situation.

Daisy Johnson, Leopold Fitz, and Jemma Simmons. One was determined to keep Phil alive by any means necessary, and chose to follow him through thick and thin while the others were taken to their guest rooms to get some much-needed rest. Daisy didn’t need rest when Phil’s life was constantly on the brink. She could sleep when she died. And then there were Fitz and Simmons, the newly-married couple having just seen their grandson Deke walk off with Mack and Yo-Yo to their respective guest rooms while in Wakanda. The two of them were just as hungry for knowledge about the vibranium mine as was the King of Wakanda and the Queen Mother.

T’Challa and Ramonda followed closely by Shuri’s side, the young princess leading the large group of ten individuals behind her deep into her laboratory. Constantly guarding the king were Okoye and Ayo, their hardened stares kept straight ahead, vibranium spears held tight and pointed skywards. The entire journey to Mount Bashenga, even when she wasn’t looking, Shuri knew that her mother and brother were constantly watching her, constantly asking what she had found.

And every time Shuri would say: “There is no better place than my lab to explain.”

Walking down the spiral stairway and entering a pure whiteness, a kind of cleanliness the likes of which Steve, Phil, and Daisy had never known even existed, the massive group of Wakandans, agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Avengers stepped forth and observed the world beneath the earth.

Numerous Wakandan scientists bustled about, experimenting on or finishing some of Shuri’s previous works, barely even casting the Avengers or agents a sideways glance. They acknowledged their king and Queen Mother, responding with a strong Wakandan salute. Both son and mother responded in kind, giving the scientists the ease needed to resume their work. Together, they all followed Shuri towards the clean, white desk resting before the massive glass window. While the young princess got to work on bringing up her old files and studies on her touchscreen holograms, the rest of the group not native to Wakanda took in the pure majesty of the vibranium mine before them.

It quite possibly went on for miles, several trains zooming back and forth throughout the towering blue and black rock structures filling the nearly-endless caverns. The blue rocks shimmered with alien intensity, the truth of vibranium’s history given to Coulson and Rogers while in flight to Mount Bashenga. Shuri told them everything, how the vibranium meteor struck Africa thousands of years ago. The founding of Wakanda was based solely on the fact that the neighboring tribes would share the alien rock, and so became the most powerful nation on Earth over a millennium later. In secret. Hidden from the rest of the world.

Steve leaned forward, pressing his right palm flat on the white desk as he observed the glowing rocks intently. It was quite intriguing, actually, for Steve Rogers. All his life, since he became Captain America more than seventy years ago, he had wanted to know more about the impenetrable metal his iconic shield was made from. And standing there, amongst his friends and teammates, he was finally able to witness the source of his shield’s strength. One of the many sources of his strength, the shield included. Steve sighed and looked down, seeing his empty forearm. Feeling the lack of weight on his back somehow managed to make him feel… heavier. He stepped back and joined Natasha, Daisy, and Phil, the three of them lost in awe and wonder to the massive vibranium mine directly ahead of them, Phil more so.

But they were nothing compared to Fitz and Simmons.

The two of them—practically breathless, almost shaking—nearly struggled to reach the desk that belonged to Shuri. Like their fellow agents, like the Avengers before them, they both gazed into the depths of the vibranium mine. Unlike them all, their jaws refused to close fully, their bodies finally giving in to the shivers that constantly flowed across their skin and up their spines. They almost couldn’t believe it. The most powerful, volatile, and expensive metal in all the world… resting just a few hundred yards in front of them. Not only that, but the very ground they stood upon, the ceilings, the walls, the technology that put S.H.I.E.L.D.’s own to shame was all made from vibranium! A world they never knew existed were hundreds of years ahead of the rest of humanity in terms of technology, and it was all because of the glowing blue rock surrounding them.

It was surreal. Fitz and Simmons could hardly breathe. Fitz managed, saying, “This is… this is absolutely…”

His gaze lingered to the trains constantly bustling back and forth, the tracks creating a sort of path for them as they twisted and turned about within the mine’s depths. His voice failed him, his shocked breaths being all he could manage. Simmons took over, breathing, “Spectacular.”

A hologram was sauntered their way, their gazes falling to it. Both Fitz and Simmons turned to their left to see the young Wakandan princess smile at them. Shuri received a couple smiles back, watching as the newlywed couple enlarged the hologram so they both could study it further. The hologram offered information, statistics, showing the energy dispersion not only at a level the mines encompassed, but spreading throughout all of the nation of Wakanda. The energy, all flowing from the vibranium rock like heat from a radiator, was completely off the charts, more so than what the normal levels had previously shown.

Furrowing their brows at that, Leo and Jemma slowly returned their gazes back to Shuri. They felt Phil and Steve’s presence behind them, the two of them studying the hologram they received. Pointing to it, Fitz asked, “What is all of this?”

He obviously referred to the abnormal energy dispersion rippling through the nation, originating from the vibranium mine, of which Shuri had complete control and oversight of it. Even she appeared somewhat hesitant when Fitz asked that question, her lips pursing and gaze falling down to the hologram beneath her. T’Challa and Ramonda leaned forward, either one trying to meet Shuri’s gaze, but both failing to do so. She kept her eyes low, on the information labeled on the hologram, and finally responded. She could feel almost every eye in the lab on her.

“Over the past few months, I have been getting some strange readings deep below the vibranium mound. Far stranger and unique than anything we have ever come across before,” Shuri explained, expanding her hologram so all the group could see. Even some scientists broke away from their experiments to listen in and watch silently.

Letting the stats and information flow, Shuri showcased a small animation of Mount Bashenga letting loose ripples of energy across the map of Wakanda. “The more vibranium we continued to harvest, the deeper we continued to dig, and the energy only got stronger,” she said, tapping away on the hologram, showing the ripples grow larger and spread further, encompassing all of Wakanda and even spreading out of its borders. T’Challa, Ramonda, Okoye, and Ayo all gazed to the hologram with disturbed expressions.

The area where the energy waves ended was in a perfect circle formation around the country, lining up perfectly where the alien warships surrounded. Whatever it was, the energy the vibranium was giving off, whatever it was that Shuri and the miners and struck… the aliens found its signal. And they followed it.

“We began studying it,” Shuri continued, some eyes returning to her, most of them focused on the hologram and what Shuri showed next, “analyzing its patterns and how far its influence spread. We discovered that whatever this energy source was… it was not simply a part of the vibranium meteor. It may be something else entirely. And whatever it is, it holds great power throughout all of Wakanda. It spreads its energy like a beating heart throughout the entire nation. Only now with our continued mining and study were we able to discover it at long last.”

There was an uncertain silence plaguing the group. Daisy Johnson, Natasha Romanoff, and Fitz and Simmons remained like children in the theater, completely silent with eyes as large as dinner plates. Phil and Steve seemed relatively calm, eyes narrowed, taking in every breath of information that flowed from Shuri and the hologram she controlled. Ramonda, Okoye, and Ayo still appeared shaken, now realizing the truth of what the aliens wanted. At least, that’s what they saw to be the truth.

T’Challa knew there was more to it.

He had kept his hand resting on his chin for several minutes, watching the ripple of energy expel from the very mine they remained within and spread throughout his kingdom. None of it seemed right. Everything—down to the aliens invading their home, the talk of energy beyond that of what they already knew—seemed just… wrong. Not natural, at least by Wakanda’s standards.

“What kind of power?” T’Challa asked at last.

Shuri looked over to her left, to her older brother, and saw him completely focused on the hologram. Either that, or the vibranium rock behind it. Shaking her head, Shuri answered, “I don’t know for sure, but it is beyond our very understanding as Wakandans. Bringing ourselves… to admit that… I think we can conclude that this power… is beyond our world.”

“Well, surely it is beyond our world,” Okoye said. “The vibranium rock crashed into Wakanda from space.”

“This new energy source,” Shuri almost interrupted, turning her shaken expression onto Okoye and Ayo, the two members of the Dora Milaje seeming somewhat taken aback by her eyes, “… is not of the vibranium.”

T’Challa closed his eyes and pondered, hand still resting on his chin. Okoye and Ayo looked to one another, as did the Avengers and Daisy with Phil. The Queen Mother herself saw the uncertainty spread from one individual to another, her eyes finally, slowly, returning to her daughter. “What are you saying, Shuri?” Ramonda asked.

Gulping slightly, Shuri explained, moving her hands in rapid formation. “We can hypothesize that this energy has been leaking from the vibranium for many, many years… and we just managed to pierce it fully, allowing the full potential of it to be unleashed throughout the remainder of Wakanda and beyond. That’s how these aliens found us. This is what they want.”

The young princess turned her head over to her left to meet the gazes from Steve and Natasha, the curious looks from Daisy and Phil, and the simply fascinated expressions from Fitz and Simmons. It gave her the confidence to say what she was dreading to ever since they arrived to her lab.

“This energy…” Shuri continued, then paused, almost not wanting to continue when she felt her mother’s wrathful gaze burn her way, “… and this is only a hypothesis… but it may have been able to infect the plant life, not the vibranium that we initially believed. And whatever this energy was, it gave the Black Panther his powers… it allowed T’Challa to travel to the Ancestral Plane and meet the souls of all the former Black Panthers… as well as father…”

T’Challa turned to his little sister as she struggled with that last statement, watching as she seemed to hurt herself trying to breathe. She leaned her back against the desk, her breath shaking as she exhaled, a soft sniffle following her ragged breathing. Wiping her eyes, Shuri turned them instead to her left once more… letting them fall to one person…

“Steve…”

Steve Rogers perked up to the mentioning of his name, almost every eye shifting to his direction. Meeting Shuri’s gaze and holding it with as much strength as he could muster, Steve listened closely, let the silence of the lab and Shuri’s heavy breathing being all that he could hear.

As well as her voice.

Especially when she asked…

“What were the Infinity Stones… by name?”

His jaw fell, but nothing came from it. He just realized what Shuri was leading to in her revelation, almost hesitating when he turned to the somewhat offended looks he received from Ramonda, Okoye, and Ayo. T’Challa, as always, was focused elsewhere, to his own thoughts.

Sighing, Steve looked away and kept his gloved-palm pressed to the desk, his other resting on his belt. And he said, “The Space Stone, Power Stone, Reality Stone, Time Stone, Mind Stone, and…”

Then he turned back and met Shuri’s eyes. Natasha turned to him. Daisy looked to Rogers. Phil slowly realized where they were headed. What the endgame was. What it all… truly meant.

“And the Soul Stone,” Steve finished.

Just like that, it almost seemed to click for everyone present. Queen Mother Ramonda took in a sharp gasp of air, Okoye’s jaw falling alongside Ayo’s. T’Challa closed his eyes and let his head fall further into his palm, his entire mouth shielded by it.

“So, what if…” Shuri exclaimed, turning around and facing her family, her friends, her allies, her eyes almost burning with tears, “… what if… what these aliens want with Wakanda… is not just our vibranium but something more. Something that’s been beneath our feet forever but we never truly realized its power until now?”

“Shuri,” Ramonda stated fiercely, taking a powerful step forward to her daughter. Shuri nearly crumbled under her mother’s glare, a tiny gasp leaving her. The Queen Mother’s voice was practically on fire, her lips trembling when she asked, “You would change Wakanda’s very history, our religion, everything we were built on for a hypothesis?”

“Mother, this—”

“You are saying that all of this,” she pointed to the vibranium glowing outside the glass shield, “our rich history, our god Bast… is all because of an alien stone?”

Shuri felt the accusations punch her in every which way, the young princess standing back up and facing it either way. She rose to full height, meeting her mother straight on, never once blinking or backing down when she affirmed her position… and said it.

“How different is that from an alien rock?” Shuri retorted. Ramonda’s gaze only worsened, Shuri pushing further by stating, “Mother, I’m not trying to change our religion, I’m just… expanding upon it. Bast could have very well existed on Earth far before the vibranium even came here, but it was our plight… that the panther goddess chose to bless us… and allow us to contain this power beyond our world.”

And there it was. Everything she had discovered and dreaded letting the rest of Wakanda know for so long. It was all there, laid on the table, fresh for all to see. And none of them, none of her family, none of her guard seemed to understand it like she and Steve, and Phil, and the others understood it. That, and seeing her mother’s constantly hurt expression started to weigh heavily on her, Shuri sighing and dropping her head. “But it is just a hypothesis.”

“Beyond our world.”

Ramonda broke her gaze from her daughter to turn to her son. Every Avenger, every agent, everyone diverged their eyes and ears to King T’Challa. Just as they saw him last, he had kept his eyes closed and continued to do so for several seconds longer in peace and quiet. And the longer he remained in that state, the further he delved into the remnants of times long past.

He thought back to his crowning ceremony, seeing his father in the Ancestral Plane, only after consuming the Heart-Shaped Herb. He saw his father after so long, the last time being his burnt and bloody body lying in his arms, T’Challa cradling him and crying for the father that was lost, the one he would never get back. He saw his father’s soul, and the souls of those who came before.

The souls who came before…

Space.

Power.

Reality.

Time.

Mind.

T’Challa opened his eyes.

“Son…” Ramonda whispered, she and Shuri leaning forward. Okoye and Ayo stood at the ready, their full attention locked with their king, shocked to see him so shocked. Scared to see him scared. Hardly breathing to see his chest not even moving.

With his eyes staring into another world, T’Challa kept his attention forward, with the vibranium mine beneath Mount Bashenga. “These alien warships,” he finally said. “How far are they?”

Okoye raised her beads resting around her wrist, bringing up a materializing hologram of the same kind that appeared in the War Room. “The ships are one hundred miles away and closing in,” Okoye explained, turning her widened eyes back to her king and dropping her wrist.

And she watched as he began to act, prompting her and Ayo to follow their king. “Evacuate the city,” T’Challa ordered. Ramonda was right behind her son, watching as he turned from Ayo to Okoye and said, “Engage all defenses!”

Then she saw as he turned around, eyes as hot as burning iron, and pointed directly behind them. With that same tone of voice, that same powerful order, King T’Challa, the Black Panther, pointed to one individual among the many. One man among the masses. One super soldier… without a weapon.

“And get this man a shield!”

He addressed the Wakandan scientists handling the vibranium weaponry. He addressed his little sister Shuri. He pointed directly to Steve Rogers when he said that, the First Avenger’s jaw dropping at that and not a single breath leaving him. He could do nothing more but watch as T’Challa, Okoye, Ayo, and Ramonda made their retreat up the spiral stairs.

Phil Coulson smiled slowly. Daisy did the same. Natasha smirked up at Rogers. Fitz and Simmons were just as breathless as the second they stepped into the labs. And Shuri practically beamed with excitement.

All while T’Challa and his people exited the vibranium mound, their minds set only on protecting their very way of life. Their king led them every step of the way, the Black Panther growling, “They will come for us… and what has been beneath our feet forever.”