SHIFTER ─ marvel

XVI. PROJECT SAVAGE

Chapter Sixteen
Soroya

As soon as the ship touches the ground outside the palace, Alex jumps up from his seat and makes his way off the ship. As Bucky and I make our way down the steps, I see Alex and Khari embracing tightly. Khari looks filled with relief and indescribable happiness at having Alex back. As they pull away from each other, I see the same look on Alex's face.

Khari pulls his attention away from Alex and towards Bucky and I. The look of relief and happiness doesn't fade, and he hugs me just as tightly as he did Alex.

"I'm so sorry," He whispers to me. "I know going back to your house must have been difficult for you."

As I pull back I gently cup his face, giving him a small smile. "I just hope we can get Analiese. I want these attacks to stop."

Khari gives me a reassuring look. "We will. What's our next move?"

I let out a sigh, reaching into my backpack and grabbing the file we found. I hand it to him, watching as he skims through it's contents. "I want to test my blood to see if the serum in this project is in my DNA. I already called Shuri and asked if she can do it, and she said genetics aren't really her territory. So I called someone to help us."

I hadn't told Alex or Bucky about this, so all three give me a curious look. A smile comes over my brother's face and he asks excitedly; "Did you call another Avenger?"

I nod to him. "He'll be here in a couple hours. I called Okoye and she is going to get him now. He and Shuri should be able to help us find answers."

Bucky tries to hide his uneasiness but fails. "Who did you call?"

I smile at him, clasping my hand with his. "Bruce Banner."

-

T'Challa and Nakia were both in the throne room when we arrived. We caught them both up to speed on what we found. I told them Bruce was coming, and T'Challa had no objections to that whatsoever. He said there was some matters he had to deal with however and couldn't come to the lab. The queen mother has been at a meeting in Kenya for the past week, making the council's need for T'Challa's attention even greater. Ramonda has been helping T'Challa adjust back into his roll as king after all this time, getting him up to speed on the current issues of his country. It's proving to be difficult. Okoye is needed needed at the palace as well. Apparently there's trouble with the positions of his army now that members of the tribes have returned. There's too many people that have claim to the same jobs. I can tell T'Challa feels guilt for not being able to accompany us to Shuri's lab, but I assured him he has no reason to be. His kingdom needed him.

I was grateful to all of my friends here; while I was gone, all of them spent every spare moment they had trying to track Analiese, trying to find any other information on her. Okoye has been keeping track of the police reports in Germany, which is how she heard of the attack at my old house. Besides that, they haven't found anything else. You would think a scientist working under someone like Emma Becker would have more files and documentation, but it's like this woman doesn't exist. But perhaps that is exactly what she wanted.

When Bruce arrived, Okoye took him straight to Shuri's lab where the rest of us have been waiting for a little while now.

Bruce smiles at me when he sees me, wrapping one hand around me and pulling me in for a gentle embrace. I return his embrace, feeling eternally grateful for him agreeing to help.