FOUR
The light above Evelyn’s head kept moving, irritating her out of her mind. She remembered this place, but only vaguely. It was probably one of those laboratories where she was researched on. The word tasted bitter in her mouth. She scoffed to herself. “Just a nice, scientific word for torture,” she mumbled. Her voice sounded like she had been drugged. But she couldn’t remember where or when. And then suddenly she was falling. The floor beneath her was gone and there was nothing but darkness. She felt a jerk before she opened her eyes.
Evelyn was lying on her stomach on a metallic surface which didn’t really feel like metal. It was soft. She groaned. Her back was a little sore and she didn’t know if she should move or just stay on this weird bed forever. She decided that she couldn’t really stay like this. She’d have to get up anyway to use the loo. That reminded her that she didn’t know where she was. Her body jerked awake as if it had suddenly perceived the danger it was in. Sitting up she rolled her neck and slowly, gingerly put her foot down. The floor was a bit cold and she hissed in pain when she tried to stand up properly. She remembered then that she was shot in her back. It was a bad wound from what she could tell. At least a week must have already passed if she was up and about.
Her surroundings looked suspiciously high-tech and she couldn’t tell where she was. It didn’t look like Stark’s lab. She’d see his suits otherwise. Instead, everything was quiet and compact. It was elegant. The slight beeps of machines were almost unnoticeable. She looked at her faint reflection in one of the glass windows. She was wearing a white dress from what she could tell, with intricate patterns on the neck. She suddenly realized that she didn’t have any pants on. Yet, the dress covered her well and reached way past her knees. Her reflection faded away and her eyes fell on some sort of a train that moved on the tracks with blue lights on either side. It moved unbelievably fast. “What the hell is this place?” she whispered to herself.
“Wakanda,” came a young feminine voice and she spun on her feet to come face to face with a young woman holding a tablet in her hand. “This is Wakanda?” Evelyn asked, stunned. This was far from a third world country. Obviously, she had understood that Wakanda was more advanced than what they had let others believe. But this was something else entirely.
“My brother brought you here after you were shot,” the girl said as she worked. “Your brother,” Evelyn wondered aloud, “T’challa?” The girl nodded and smiled. “My name is Shuri.”
“Evelyn Ross.”
“Yes, I know. My brother told me about you. The mutant,” Shuri spoke but paused when she saw Evelyn’s eyes turn away from her. “I am sorry. I know what your people did to you.”
She gave her a sad smile, “They tried to cure me of my disease for a very long time. When they failed, they decided that my disease was now a gift and if I served my country, I would be putting it to good use,” Evelyn realized that Shuri was probably just a teenager and not really interested in her sob story.
“But its fine now,” she tried to smile but couldn’t help the sinking feeling in her stomach when the girl looked at her sympathetically. She looked away, scanning the laboratory again. She felt like she had to take in every detail. “How long was I out?”
“Four hours,” Shuri replied and Evelyn looked at her, wide-eyed. “Okay, that’s not even possible.”
“It’s possible in Wakanda.”
“So you are awake,” T’challa’s voice boomed in the lab and Evelyn swiftly turned to him. “You brought me here to save my life?” she asked, her eyes narrowing at him. He nodded, seemingly confused by her question. “Why else would I bring you here?”
“To imprison me?” she suggested and he let out a chuckle. “I do not want to imprison you, ncinane nye. I had however hoped to show you Wakanda, but not like this.” Shuri gave a smirk but didn’t interfere while her brother spoke.
“What do you keep calling me?” Evelyn asked, “Are you making fun of me?” she narrowed her eyes. “And what does it mean you wanted to show me Wakanda?”
T’challa smiled at her, his eyes sparkling. Okoye approached them a moment later and Evelyn tensed further. She suddenly felt very vulnerable. She was in a foreign country and she had no way of contacting her people.
To her surprise, Okoye directed a smile towards her. Well, at least the formidable woman didn’t hate her now. “You were brave to save our King’s life. A little stupid as our king doesn’t need saving. But still brave,” she spoke to her and Evelyn sighed, that was a nice and not at all insulting way of showing gratitude but it was better than all the ice cold glares she had been receiving from Okoye since she met her. She smiled and nodded.
Okoye turned to T’challa the next second and her features became somber. She spoke to him in a hushed voice. It didn’t matter because Evelyn still didn’t know what language they spoke. Whatever news she brought had T’challa lose the playful nature that he had adopted with her just a second ago.
Evelyn decided to step forward and speak carefully, “Is everything okay?” T’challa looked at her and nodded to Okoye. She brought up a display of an African American man and Evelyn observed it carefully. “He is American,” she remarked. She had heard of him. More kills than anyone in the business. He was a ruthless man. “He is Erik Stevens. I remember being briefed about him in one of my missions. Never had the chance to actually meet the guy. What’s he done?”
“It is the King’s business,” another voice came and a man in a shawl stepped into the lab. “He has brought Klaue’s body to our borders,” he spoke to T’challa. Evelyn couldn’t believe her ears. Ulysses Klaue was finally dead. But from what she had heard, he and Erik were working together. “He wants to speak to the King,” the other man continued breaking her train of thought. T’challa nodded and gestured to Okoye.
“Shuri,” he looked at her sister, “Escort Miss Ross to my office.”
There was a kind of seriousness in T’challa’s tone that made Evelyn shiver. Something bad had happened. Or maybe, something bad was about to happen. She followed Shuri quietly.