Vibranium

Sixteen.

M'Baku stands up "She is an asset, she is the only person that can help finish the weapon on time. If we sentence her to death we might as well sentence Wakanda to death."

What is he doing.

The door opens. "Princess, Uhh Miss Basset. What are you doing here?" I ask.

Everyone looks appalled either by her barging in or the pet name.

"I came here to speak on my behalf. I came to Wakanda eager to study here, I came here with no intentions on harming the country, or putting everyone in harms way, somehow I did. Despite the bad things I fell in love, with the land, the culture, the people." She looked over at me.

"If you allow me another chance to prove myself worthy of life here in Wakanda I'll protect everyone even if that means putting my life on the line. Please allow me to help the Queen finish building the weapon. Please allow me to help stop Namor. Please allow me to live." She continued.

"You are still putting Wakanda in danger just by standing here as we speak we have no reason to allow you to live. If you were not the Queens "princess" as she just called you, you'd already be on the execution block." An elder said.

"With all due respect the Queen isn't my only reason for living. I have a family who'd be devastated if I never went back to Michigan. The Queen isn't the only reason I want to stay in Wakanda. It's almost like a home to me now. I love the vibe here, the food, the way the sun rises, the animals, the nature. The Queen is just a plus in all this. I haven't even begun to live my life. This isn't my fault I shouldn't be punished because a grown man can't be told no. He's the enemy, not me. The longer we stand here and debate on whether or not I should live is time I could be using help the Queen. Trust me I'm not helping him willingly I'd rather die. You either allow me to help or you won't but I will not be dying when Wakanda herself is in serious danger of falling." She finished.

There's no way they'd try to kill her now. Everyone is stunned by her little speech as am I.

"Well I think I speak for us all when I say, you are free to go and this meeting is dismissed Miss Basset." M'Baku stood.

Everyone left the room and it was just me, M'Baku and Tyler.

"Shuri, I would be careful from here on out. You need to make sure Namor doesn't figure out our plans and keep her within the palace walls. Some people may still be out for blood. No matter the cost. Good luck to you both, keep me updated on the weapon." He left out of the throne room.

It was just Tyler and I left.

"Thank you for not saying what you saw. I'll bring it up when I'm ready to tell my people." I reached out to grab her hand and she looked over at me and pulled away.

"Do you feel like this is all my fault or something?" She asked

"No, I would never. Namor used you, you would never willingly betray me and my people."

"What were you going to do if I had to be killed, if there was no other way to save Wakanda?" She asked.

How could she ask me something like that. That's a tough choose. That's like giving me an ultimatum, protecting my people or her. That's exactly what she's doing.

"I don't exactly know princess. It didn't happen, there's no need to think like that. Why are we having this conversation in the first place?" I asked.

"If your answer would've been no, you would've shut them down when the topic came up. I get it Shuri, you're a queen. I just need to know where I stand in all of that. Cause right now I feel like you would've happily laid me on the table for execution. I'll always be the American here in Wakanda and I'm fine with that. With you I just want to feel like Tyler. I'll be in the lab." She said before walking away.