Shuri—who currently looks like herself—sighs as she and Nakia (and her current symbiotic other half) make their way down onto the baobab plain to meet the others. “This is by far the most harebrained plan I have ever come up with,” she says, seeing T’Challa, Okoye, Ayo, and K’Marah exit a hoverjet close to the spot where Shuri called them all to gather.
Also with them: Spider-Man. She smiles. “Sneaky, sneaky, Mr. Morales.”
“Let’s just hope your plan works,” Nakia says.
K’Marah waves and breaks into a sprint, and Shuri runs over the plan in her head one last time. When they’re all together, she should be able to share it confidently … or at least without getting tongue-tied.
And the princess is glad she’s currently bonded to the symbiote: Her Dora Karami best friend leaps and throws her arms and legs around Shuri, and thanks to the added strength in her muscles from her alien friend, Shuri is able to stay on her feet. “Oh my gods, I was so worried,” K’Marah says.
“Worried about what, K’Marah?”
The shorter girl unwraps herself from the princess and drops back down to the ground. “Have you been doing push-ups or something?” she asks, giving Shuri a once-over. “I don’t remember you being that strong …”
Nakia snorts. “You have no idea, Karami.”
“What were you worried about?” Shuri says to K’Marah, trying to bring everyone back to center.
“I dunno, Shuri … maybe about that thing getting out of the box and trying to eat you? Have you seen the havoc these creatures are wreaking on this land that you are first in line to rule?”
Not THING! Siblings not CREATURES!
I know, I know. Calm down, Shuri replies to the symbiote.
“He’s—”
SHE! The symbiote bellows in Shuri’s head.
She takes a deep breath. “She isn’t a ‘thing,’ K’Marah. She’s a sentient being from another planet who just wants to go home.”
“Wait, what do you mean she—”
“Yoooo!” Miles—or Shuri guesses she should say Spider-Man since he is in full costume—jogs over and puts his hands on his knees, panting. “These symbiotes have given your boy a workout today, man. Whew!”
“Ahhh … and who might you be?” Nakia asks the black-suited boy. Now that they’re in the light—and she’s not viewing him in monotone through night-vision glasses—Shuri can see that his suit is accented with red.
“Oh. Uhhh—”
“This is Spider-Man, Nakia. He is a great American Super Hero!”
It takes everything in the princess not to laugh. She shoves her hand out. “Lovely to meet you, Mr. Spider-Man, sir! Thank you for gracing us with your special skills!”
Miles clears his throat. “You’re, uhhh … welcome. Your Majes-ness! I mean, Your Highnesty! I mean—”
“Shuri,” T’Challa says with a nod of his head, cutting Miles off. He’s also in costume but has his face mask removed. “Nakia.”
“My king,” Nakia returns, tippin’ her head as well.
It takes everything in Shuri not to giggle over the grin tugging at the corner of Nakia’s mouth and the very evident twinkle in her brother’s eye.
Not sure we like Panther man, the symbiote says (and Shuri has to clench her teeth to keep the words from coming out of her mouth). Panther man give bad vibe. Panther man angry.
Hey, that’s my brother, Shuri replies. And cut him some slack. Your brethren are causing quite the uproar in this country that “Panther man” rules.
“Lovely to see you, General,” Shuri says aloud to Okoye before the symbiote can respond. Talking back to a voice inside her head while trying to interact with actual people is getting disorienting. “And you as well, Ayo.”
“Your Highness. Nakia,” the Dora Milaje women say in turn.
“All right!” T’Challa claps and clasps his hands together. “Now that we’ve gotten the formalities out of the way, how are we to solve this … problem?” he asks, jumping right to the point. (So typical.)
“Well, Shuri has a plan,” Nakia says.
Shuri’s symbiote partner laughs in her mind. It is not a pleasant pseudo-sound. Hahahahaha warrior woman throw princess under bus!
Shuri doesn’t respond to her. “Yes,” she says to the group instead. “I do. Ahh …”
And there’s the tied tongue.
“Are you quite all right, Your Highness?” Okoye asks.
Princess tell them.
Shuri takes a deep breath and then launches in. “Okay,” she says. “In a nutshell, as our recently departed friend Miles would say, we need to lure all the bonded symbiotes here to the baobab plain.”
“And how do you propose we do that, Sister?”
“She will get there, T’Challa,” Nakia says. (And Shuri’s never been more grateful.) “Go on, Your Highness.”
Shuri nods. “Once they are all here, I will summon the Predator to come hover above us all, and then I will cast a miniature dome over the plain utilizing the vessel’s Kimoyo-capture mechanism. It will be inescapable, which hopefully will mean that we can get the symbiotes to separate from all the hosts and to volunteer to teleport back to their home planet peacefully.”
“Okay,” T’Challa says. “And if they won’t?”
“Well, if they won’t, we’ll have to hit them with a magnified sonic blast that will flow from the dome itself. The frequency will be just above twenty-seven kilohertz, so we won’t hear a thing, you included, Brother. But as K’Marah and I witnessed, the symbiotes will be blown right off their hosts. After which, I will vacuum them up into the airtight, sound-absorbent undercarriage of the Predator. And it will be made known to them that the only way they can escape is by leaving Wakanda and returning home.”
T’Challa looks impressed.
“Not to be the pessimist party pooper—because that truly is a fantastic plan, best friend,” K’Marah says then. “But I must return to your big brother’s question: How, precisely, are we going to get them here?”
“Well …” Shuri peeks over her shoulder at Nakia—who (unhelpfully) gives her a look that says: You’re on your own here, Princess.
“Well what, baby sis?” from T’Challa.
The princess turns back to face the others, then exhales, squares her shoulders, and lifts her chin. “I’m going to call them.”
“Call them?” from Okoye this time.
“Yes. I will dispense weapons, and you all will hide over there behind the trunk of the baobab. Once the dome deploys, you will come out in case there’s … a fight. They won’t be able to just run away like they’ve been doing when you try to wrangle them.”
“How could you possibly know that’s what they’ve been doing, Shuri?” T’Challa asks.
“Uhh … Call it intuition,” the princess replies, not quite ready to reveal that she’s … not completely only herself and is getting insider info—literally.
Though said revelation is certainly about to happen.
“Let’s get to it,” she says, lowering her backpack and passing the gauntlets to Ayo, the sonic blaster to Nakia, the Frisbee to Spider-Man, and the poison-filled stuffed panther to K’Marah—who thankfully needs no explanation: The creation was her idea. “All of you, over there.” She points to the trunk of the tree. It’s as wide as a small house. “You’ll know when to come out.”
For a moment, everyone just stares at Shuri as though she’s speaking a language they don’t understand.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Princess,” Nakia says in Shuri’s ear in passing. Then louder to everyone: “All right, you heard her. Let’s not dillydally. We have a small alien horde to get rid of.”
They all turn to head to the tree. Shuri hears T’Challa say, “I … I don’t understand what is happening.”
“You’ll be fine, Cha-Cha,” Nakia replies, patting him on the back. “She’s your little sister, after all, and you have been a spectacular role model, wouldn’t you say?” The Dora peeks over her shoulder at Shuri and winks.
Which the princess takes as her cue.
“Okay, friend,” she says aloud to her symbiote (and once she hears herself, feels quite odd about it). “Let’s do this.”
Friends work together, the symbiote replies. Now that she’s conscious of being bonded, Shuri can sense a number of things she and the alien have in common: a longing to belong; a desire to be a part of something bigger than themselves; a want for the safety and comfort of home; a need for connection and friendship …
Oddly enough, the more Shuri allows herself to experience the alien symbiote’s emotions, the more human and understood she feels.
That’s right: Friends work together, she replies.
Before we make call, must warn: the others more … rough around edges. Not so nice.
“And yet you called them here anyway,” Shuri says aloud, shaking her head.
You no give gem. Miss home, so bring home here.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” She looks back to make sure she can’t see any of the others—and that they can’t see her—then closes her eyes and takes one final inhale of Wakandan air as herself (for now at least). Go ahead and transform, she says in her head this time. Let’s get this party started.
Though Shuri doesn’t feel any sort of transformation, when she lifts her hands to look at them, they’re coated shimmery black with wicked sharp claws she can extend and contract at will. And yet she’s still wearing her Kimoyo bracelet. “This is by far the least believable experience I’ve ever had.”
Princess get ready. We call now. Princess no faint this time.
Shuri steadies herself and opens her mouth.
The next thing Shuri knows, the symbiote is speaking in her mind again. Princess fainted. Weak. Wake up now.
Oh, shut up. She shakes her head, and once her vision clears, her instinct is to scream (though, of course, she doesn’t; certainly can’t blow her cover now). She has no idea how long it’s been, but she’s standing in the thick of at least a hundred symbiotic beings, all with claws out and teeth bared.
And all looking at her. There are yet more making their way down onto the plain.
As clandestinely as she can, Shuri runs a fingertip over one bead of her bracelet—to put the Predator in Invisi-mode—and then taps the one beside it to summon the vessel overhead. She just needs the alien-covered hosts to come in a liiiiiiittle closer.
Are they all here? she asks the symbiote.
Three more, he replies. Eight seconds.
Excellent.
Almost on cue, the final bonded symbiotes rush down to the others in quick succession. And as the last one approaches, Shuri’s Kimoyo bead vibrates to let her know the Predator is hovering right overhead.
She just has to keep the pack distracted for the twelve seconds it’ll take for the miniature dome to deploy.
Glory to Bast, please let this work.
Name not Bast. But agree.
Shuri quickly taps the bead three times and then opens her mouth to speak … but the sounds that issue from her throat are like nothing she’s ever heard before.
Not that she can’t understand exactly what “Shurom” is communicating: “Brethren!” they say to the large group gathered all around them.
Four seconds down, Shuri thinks.
“Welcome to this great land—”
“NEW HOME!” a symbiote shout-growls from somewhere deep in the throng. Shurom spots him. He is very large and very menacing, with a many-fanged smile that’s more can’t-wait-to-EAT-you than lovely-to-meet-you!
Seven seconds down. More than halfway there.
“Actually, after spending significant time here, I feel that this planet is too … chaotic for our kind—”
“NEW HOOOOOOME!” the big guy shouts again. This time, the rest of the symbiote crowd begins to cheer …
Which is when Shuri makes a grave error: She looks up.
So they all do.
There’s no mistaking the shimmery half sphere that is actively coming down around them like a glass jar over a gathering of bugs (which isn’t wholly inaccurate). And in that final second before the dome touches ground, a terrifying tumult breaks loose.
“FLEEEEE!” one of them says from somewhere on the fringe of the mass.
And flee they do.
Or at least they try to. The force with which some of them smack into the dome is so intense, they get thrown backward through the air like the Vibranium-enhanced rubber balls Shuri used to toss against the palace wall to see how great a distance she could get them to rebound.
And they are not happy about it.
“TRAITORRRRR!” the big, scary one shouts, pointing at Shurom. (So much for a new home …)
And then he’s rushing in her direction.
“Uhhhhh … PLAN B, GUYS!” she shouts as loud as she can, hoping her team not only heard her but could understand what she said. Then she turns to run, but her symbiote stops her.
No show fear!
BUT I’M SCARED!
No worry. I will handle.
And before Shuri knows what’s happening, her arm is up, and thick webbing is shooting out from some mysterious place beneath her Kimoyo bracelet.
It hits the big guy in the eyes and knocks him onto his back.
FWISH. FWISH. FWISH. FWISH.
One. Two. Three. Four more down, trying to claw the gunk off their faces.
Which is when Shuri notices more of them dropping in the same fashion. Spider-Man is also webbing them down left and right. He tosses the Frisbee, and a high-pitched whistling sound screeches through the air. A number of the beings immediately stop to cover their ears.
Why aren’t they shooting it back at us? Shuri asks the symbiote.
No have webbing, the symbiote replies. Venom adapt from host Spider-Man. Then share adaptation with me. Sole advantage. But too much webbing make weak—
Spider-Man fires off a burst of web at Shuri, but thankfully, her symbiote’s reflexes are quick as lightning. They do a double-backflip roll thing and land in a squat. “STOP! IT’S ME!” she shouts in his direction.
But of course it comes out in that wretched gravel voice.
CHANGE ME BACK TO ME! she shouts at the symbiote in her head.
And he must listen because Miles is suddenly so shocked, he pauses for a second too long and gets pummeled by a pair of unwebbed symbiotes.
“NO!” Shuri shouts. And then she’s racing in Miles’s direction as one of the black-clad alien creeps raises his hand into the air and extends his claws. Shuri shoots two bursts of web: one at the hand and one at his mouth. She flips and twists through the air and kicks the other one in the side of the head. But once her feet are back on the ground, she gets hit with a wave of vertigo.
Shuri spins in a quick circle. All around the enclosed field, her beloved friends and family are engaged in various styles of combat with their alien-possessed countrymen. T’Challa has taken on three at once. Okoye knocks one down with the handle of her long spear, and then whips around in a sweeping kick to take down another one. Ayo has just flipped one over her shoulder and blasted two others down with the gauntlets. Nakia runs up the trunk of the tree, does a backflip, and shoots the sonic blaster’s silent sound beam at a group of seven while airborne. She lands on one’s shoulders before dropping an elbow onto its head.
And then there’s K’Marah. Who appears to be enjoying a nice piggyback ride until Shuri notices the Dora Karami has the symbiote in a choke hold with one arm and is rubbing the poison panther toy in its face with the opposite hand.
“Shuri! The big blast!” Spider-Miles says as a long string of web zips through the air from his wrist and attaches to a symbiote. When Miles pulls, the alien goes flying, and good ol’ Spider-Man whips his body around in a wide loop, knocking at least a dozen of the others over like those red-and-white pins in that bizarre American game where a heavy ball is tossed down a greased lane.
Shuri lifts her arm to twist the right Kimoyo bead … but then stops. Oh no, she thinks. When I do this, you will be blown off me, she says to her own symbiote.
Princess too worried, the being responds.
And she is. Which feels odd considering how keen she was on the alien leaving her homeland and never returning.
Others teleport. Me wait for gem. Now press button.
So Shuri does.
And though she knows the frequency is too high for her actual ears to hear, the agony that hits the symbiote she’s hosting is excruciating. It’s as though the world around her is vibrating and spinning at the same time, and she’s trying to swim through an ocean of the straight pins Clothier Lwazi uses when fitting Shuri for some ridiculous garment Mother will eventually force her to wear.
I have to stop it— she begins, but her extraterrestrial friend cuts her off.
No, he says. Princess strong. Turn to maximum.
Completely without her permission, Shuri’s fingertips find the right Kimoyo bead and twist. Which makes it feel like thirty thousand sirens are going off inside her head at once. She squeezes her eyes shut and opens her mouth to scream.
Shuri has no idea how much time passes, but the next thing she knows, the symbiote’s voice is saying Goodbye, Princess and fading from her mind. The ache in her head begins to abate, though now she feels like she’s going to lose her lunch and fall asleep simultaneously.
“Shuri, the vacuum!” K’Marah’s voice says from somewhere far off.
The princess’s hand drifts back to her bracelet, and she taps a bead—praying to Bast that it’s the right one.
Then the world goes dark.