The White Wolf

XVII

"Don't worry about them." Ava said. "They just haven't seen a white male before. They had only ever seen me, and I've been here for a long time. You're safe here." She murmured to him. Bucky looked up at her, nodding after a moment, though they both began to walk a little quicker.

It wasn't long before they were walking into the lab together. "You took your time. I said to come immediately, didn't I?" Shuri said with crossed arms, standing behind a lab table. 

Ava waved her hand at her in dismissal. "What's the issue?" She asked. 

Shuri shrugged. "There isn't one." She said, then glanced at Bucky. "Hello, colonizer."

Bucky's brows crinkled as he looked at her, blinking a few times at that name. Ava scoffed a little. "You made it seem pretty urgent." She said, placing her hands on her hips. 

"Yes, so you would come quickly." Shuri said. "But there is no issue." The teen smirked. "I just thought you might want to help me with these new upgrades."

"What new upgrades?"

Shuri smiled. "A surprise for you." She said, motioning for Ava and Bucky to follow, which they did toward the back of the lab. In the center of a sand table lay a spear, one almost exactly like Zuri's, just newer looking. "I made a few changes, but I thought you might like it."

Ava's eyes widened, a hand coming up to her mouth as she neared it. Her eyes stung with the sudden presence of tears, though they did not fall as she peered down at the weapon. Bucky stood beside her, glancing between her and the weapon. Slowly, Ava reached down and grazed her fingers along the beaded shaft, curling her fingers around it and lifting it from the table, standing it up. It was taller than her, but extremely light weight. "There is vibranium all throughout it, so it can not break in half like Zuri's did. And the edge is sharper, a little more narrow for precision. I wanted you to take it on a test run." Shuri explained.

Taking a deep breath, Ava looked over the spear and nodded. "Alright. Run the program." She stated, walking out to a large, open section of the floor. She got into a fighting stance, wielding the spear in preparation. 

Bucky stood next to Shuri. "Program?" He asked. 

Shuri smirked, bringing up a hologram monitor over the sand table. "Just watch. There are hidden weapons in the walls and ceiling. I can program it to fire training munitions or real ones if the lab was under attack." She explained, entering the correct program for training. "Though, the training munitions electrocute upon contact with the body, so it doesn't feel too good."

"What?" Bucky's eyes widened, turning to look at Ava. But it was too late to stop her. A black ball, the size of a golf ball, hurled it's way toward the woman at high speed from someplace in the room. With ease, she swung the spear around and hit it, splitting it in two with the blade. 

Ava had a focused look on her face, her jaw taut and eyes narrowed, like a predator stalking prey. Another ball flew at her from the other side, and she destroyed it as she did with the first. Suddenly, munitions rained down around her from all directions, and Ava defended herself, swinging the spear this way and that, spinning it around, ducking, dodging, and effectively destroying each one. Her harms never stopped moving, her determination never faltered. Bucky smirked, impressed with her skills as the program came to an end, sweat beaded on Ava's skin and her chest heaving. A grin began to spread on her lips as she recovered, her eyes wide with excitement. "It's perfect."

"I know." Shuri smiled at her. Ava laughed, wiping sweat from her brow before laying the spear on the sand table again. "I'll have one of my assistants send it to your hut later today."

"So this is what you two do every day?" Bucky asked, looking around the lab. 

Ava shrugged, watching him. "Not exactly. She thinks of inventions and technology improvements, and I do what she tells me to do." She smirked slightly.  

"Sometimes, I do what she tells me to do." Shuri said, shifting her weight over one foot, her head cocked as she held out a memory stick to the blonde. "This is the data you requested last night. I don't know what it's for, but it's yours to have fun with I suppose."

Ava took the memory stick from her, staring down at it with a hidden seriousness. "Thank you." She said, looking up at Shuri.

The man standing near Shuri tilted his head curiously. "What is it?"

She looked up at him, her mouth slightly agape. "Just, uh, some information about my real parents. You asked me about them and it made me curious to know more about where I came from."

Bucky nodded, pressing his lips together firmly. "Oh."

Her cheeks flushed a little and she cleared her throat. "I'm going to go home and, uh, look into this. I... I think it's better if I'm on my own for that." She said, earning slightly confused and slightly concerned looks from both Bucky and Shuri.

Both Bucky and Shuri kept their eyes on her as she left. "She isn't planning to run off if she finds where she's from, right? She... She'll stay here?" Bucky looked at Shuri. 

The teen let out a soft sigh. "She was not born here. But fate brought her. This is her home. If she does choose to go, she will return soon after. Her love of Wakanda is too strong to keep her away for more than a few days. Don't worry about her." Shuri smiled at him. "Why are you concerned if she stays? Do you have a crush on her?" She smirked mischievously.

His eyes widened, his face heating up at her words. "I- I, well, uh... Y-Yeah, I do. Quite a lot."

Shuri grinned. "Good. Any sane person would. She's hot. If I was into women, I would definitely try making a move."

**********

Ava sat in her bedroom, her laptop wide open in front of her. She held the memory stick between her fingers, biting her lip in thought. Little did Shuri know, but some of the information she asked for was misleading in her reason to collect it. Only a small part was about her birth parents. Taking a deep breath, she plugged in the memory stick to her laptop, watching the screen as dozens of documents loaded on the screen. 

Her eyes widened, her heart skipping a beat as she read through some of the information. "Oh, my God..." She muttered quietly to herself, her jaw dropping. Unknowing how to react, she stared at the files she found. "Oh, my God!"

AN: Sorry for the short chapter. More is coming, and it's gonna be big! I hope you're enjoying it so far! I've been working very hard on trying to update as often as possible and make sure it is quality writing. Thank you for the love! What do you think Ava found?