Joana
"Sam?"
"Joana? What's wrong?"
"You guys can't come back to Wakanda."
"What do you mean?"
Joana heard pounding footsteps outside her door. She turned back to look at it.
"Someone has taken over Wakanda. Sam..." Joana sighed, holding the phone closer to her ear. "T'challa is dead. His cousin has taken over. He doesn't like foreigners. You can't come back."
"Are you safe?"
"You can't come back, Sam."
"Dammit, Joana! Are you safe?"
"No, Sam. I don't know."
"Where's the Princess? The Queen? The General?"
"They're gone. They've left. He would have killed them."
"Why didn't you go with them?"
"I need to stay here. Bucky's here."
"Dammit, Joana," Sam muttered into the phone. For some reason, tears gathered in Joana's eyes.
"You can't come back, Sam. He'll kill you. He'll kill all of you," she whispered back.
"You stay safe, okay, Joana? You stay safe. We're coming to get you."
"No, Sam! Let me talk to Natalia."
"Joana-"
"Let me talk to Natalia," she snapped. A few moments passed.
"Hello?"
Just hearing her voice made Joana let out a breath of air.
"Natalia, listen to me. Do not come back. Do you hear me? Do not come back to Wakanda. Not until I tell you it's safe. Promise me, do not let them come back here," Joana said desperately, holding the phone with both hands.
"I promise, Joana, they won't come back. But you have to promise me something in return."
"Anything."
"You stay safe. Don't get killed. And keep- nevermind, I don't need to ask you that."
"What? Just say it."
"Keep James safe, will you?"
"You know I will."
"Good. You know, Sam and Steve are really going to hate me if you die."
"I know."
"So don't die, okay?"
"Okay."
"And, Joana?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For everything."
Joana smiled and hung up the phone. Her heart dropped as she hid the phone under the mattress of her bed. It felt like the last time she was going to speak to them. She didn't even say goodbye to Steve. Shaking her head, Joana left the room. She crept down the halls, avoiding everyone on her way to Shuri's room. If there was one thing that Hydra taught her about herself, it was that men in power always loved taking advantage of a girl who appeared weak. Men were predictable that way.
Once in Shuri's room, Joana headed for Shuri's closet, looking for something more attractive than a black t-shirt and black pants. She settled for a long grey shirt and matching pants. Joana sucked in a deep breath, not entirely sure if this plan of hers was the best, but it was the only one she had.
She threw off her clothes, shoving them under a pile of Shuri's clothes. The grey shirt was long sleeved and reach down to her midthigh. It was a high collared shirt, like almost all of Shuri's other clothes. The pants were mostly the same color grey, but it had patches of darker and lighter grey, looking sort of like metal. Joana shrugged at her reflection. She looked almost like she fit in with everyone else who was native to Wakanda. Shuri had done her hair over a day ago in a crown of braids. A few pieces were falling out, but she didn't have time to redo it.
Feeling the best she could with what she had, Joana left the Princess' room, praying silently that she was safe. Walking down the halls, Joana felt more and more confident, until she rounded a corner and Okoye was standing there. Before Joana could react, Okoye pulled her behind a statue.
"What are you doing here?" Okoye hissed.
"I could ask you the same thing," Joana snapped back. "Shuri said Nakia was going to get you and Agent Ross."
"I stayed behind, but Nakia said Shuri was getting you, that she refused to leave without you," Okoye told her.
"I stayed behind."
"For Barnes."
Joana nodded her head. Okoye let her go.
"Are you wearing the Princess' clothes?" Okoye asked, looking Joana up and down.
"I heard that this new king isn't too fond of foreigners," Joana said, her voice low. "It was all I could do to fit in."
"Smart. I need to get you somewhere safe, somewhere he won't find you," she told Joana. Joana stepped back and shook her head.
"No, Okoye. I can't leave. If this king finds out about Bucky-"
"He won't hesitate to kill him." Okoye sighed. "I can't convince you to leave, can I?"
Joana shook her head.
"Come with me."
Okoye pulled Joana out from behind the statue and escorted her down the hall. Joana tried to remember how Shuri would walk. Fear and worry began to creep into Joana, but she reminded herself that she had survived almost 70 years of HYDRA; she wasn't about to let some kid kill her when she was just inches away from freedom.
Okoye noted the change in Joana as they walked. She held herself taller. Her hands dropped to her sides. The look of an outsider in her eyes shifted to that of a soldier, a spy. Joana Kegley was no longer a foreigner, she looked as if she had lived in Wakanda all her life.
"You have the look, Joana," Okoye said, barely moving her lips. "Just don't say anything."
Joana didn't say anything to acknowledge that she understood, but Okoye knew she did.
They turned the corner again, nearing the servants living quarters. Okoye thought Joana would be safe here for now until they could figure out how to get her and Bucky out of Wakanda.
However, walking toward them in the opposite direction was the King, N'jadaka. Okoye stiffened But walked on. Joana kept her head bowed.
"General," the King said, his accent purely American though he spoke the native language. Joana cursed to herself, angry that she couldn't understand what he was saying. "Who is this?"
"Please, My King," Okoye said with a smile, though Joana could hear the tension in her throat. "You can speak English with me."
Joana glanced up briefly as Okoye switched languages, grateful to have at least one ally left in the palace. N'jadaka gave Okoye a smile.
"Who is this?" He asked Okoye, nodding his head toward Joana.
"This is...Inoko. She is...a priestess of our goddess Bast. Mute by choice as a sacrifice to the goddess." Okoye was quick on her feet, Joana thought, a good liar.
Joana wasn't sure whether she should curtesy, so she crossed her arms over her chest like she had seen many of the others do toward T'challa. Thinking of his name made the sting of his death sharpen in her chest.
"Where are you taking her?" N'jadaka asked, eyeing Joana with interest. She resisted the urge to vomit.
"To the servants quarters. She's new here and we don't have space for her to stay anywhere else," Okoye lied smoothly. N'jadaka approached Joana, hands clasped behind his back. He walked a circle around her as if inspecting a prize.
"Bring to my room instead. She can stay there."
N'jadaka and his entourage walked away, turning down a corner as if they had never been there. Okoye let out a breath. Joana's breath shuddered. This was her plan. Get close to the King. Kill the King. Maybe get herself thrown in prison.
Apparently, she already succeeding in the first part.
What was she thinking?
"Joana?" Okoye asked, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. Joana lifted her head.
"Inoko. Priestess. Mute," Joana recited as if that was what Okoye has asked. HYDRA taught her to remember her aliases, even if they were spur of the moment and made by someone else.
"Are you alright?"
Joana nodded once.
"Where are the King's quarters?" She asked. Okoye scowled.
"This way." Okoye started back down the hallway from whence they came. "What is your plan, Joana?"
"Do exactly as the King says." Okoye flinched at 'The King'. "Keep playing my part. Find a way to kill him when he isn't suspecting. Find Shuri, bring her back, make her Queen."
"You just admitted to the General of the King's army that you plan on murdering the king, you realize," Okoye told her. Joana turned her head but kept walking.
"I have a feeling you won't arrest me. You want him dead more than I do." Joana looked back ahead as Okoye lead the way. The General said nothing.
The rest of the walk to the King's chambers was silent. With every step that Joana took, more courage shot through her veins. She could do this. She had to do this. For Bucky. For Steve and Sam and Natasha and Wanda. For T'challa and Okoye and the Queen. For Shuri.
Okoye opened the door to the King's chambers and Joana sucked in a deep breath before walking inside. She looked back at Okoye, who stood frozen at the door.
"The last time I was in this room," Okoye spoke slowly, eyes lowering to the ground, "My best friend was sitting on the throne. But now he is dead."
Joana put a hand on the General's shoulder and offered her a warming smile, the best she could muster.
"T'challa was a good king, from what I could discern. And I assume he was a good friend. A man like him will not be forgotten. What we must do now is make sure his legacy and his idea of Wakanda does not die along with him," Joana said. Okoye breathed heavily and nodded finally. "Will you help me find a prettier dress? I need to look presentable when the king returns."
Okoye and Joana stood in front of a mirror across from the large, kingly bed. The dress Okoye put Joana in was a blood red with golden trim lining the seams. It weighed nothing, but the material was thick and strong when she touched it. It flowed like the wind as Joana mindlessly played with the edges.
"You look beautiful," Okoye said.
Joana sighed deeply.
"In America," she said, her voice soft and quiet, "I was often told that I was not beautiful because of the color of my skin. I tried to make up for it with pretty dresses and by pulling back my hair. I looked in the mirror and saw someone who wasn't fair with golden hair or sea blue eyes. I thought I was ugly.
"Then I came to HYDRA and I learned that my body was more than pleasing to men. The Commander taught me that. Aleksi taught me that. Pierce taught me that. Rumlow taught me that. I guess your new king sees that same body, that same beauty. I just don't understand why I wasn't beautiful until I was made weak."
Joana watched herself carefully in the mirror. She watched the movement of her arms, the shifting of her eyes, the breath in her chest.
"And what do you see now?" Okoye asked tentatively.
Joana swallowed.
She saw her hands stained with blood. She saw Rumlow's handprint on her cheeks. She saw scars running down her body. She saw Pierce's eyes where hers should have been. She saw Danika's blonde, bloodstained hair. She saw the lives of every person she had killed. She saw an empty womb. She saw chains around her ankles and wrists. Nothing she saw was beautiful.
Joana turned her face away from the mirror.
"You want to know what I see?" Okoye put her arm around her and turned Joana to face her. "I see a woman who has been pushed around by the will of men all of her life. I see a woman who has been to hell and, instead of succumbing to its torture, sat upon its throne. I see a warrior and I see undying loyalty to those she loves. And that, Joana, is beautiful."
The room was quiet when Okoye left. Joana could do nothing but sit and wait for the King to return for her. Okoye left a dagger for her, which Joana placed under one of the pillows on the bed. When the King was at his most vulnerable, she would take the dagger and spill his guts on the floor.
Her stomach rolled in anger with every passing second. Who was this king to demand a meeting with a woman he didn't know? Who was this king to take control of a kingdom and use his new power to terrorize billions of people?
He deserved what was coming to him, she told herself. He deserved the fate she would bring to him.
He deserved no mercy.
And Joana was really itching for blood.
****
I am so sorry about the long wait y'all! I just wrapped our school play this afternoon so I have been pretty busy, but now I have a week off for Thanksgiving, so I am hoping to get some work done! Yay!
Thank you to everyone who has been reading, voting, and commenting on this story. Your thoughts and feelings towards this book are so interesting for me to hear! I really really love and appreciate every single one of you, even you ghost readers. Thank you so so much!
I am really excited to keep writing this so, have no fear, updates will be coming soon!
With all joy and happiness,
authorsbane