Power, Part 4

Shuri has been targeted for assassination during her first visit to America as the Queen of Wakanda and the new Black Panther.[1] The trail brought her to the Brooklyn home of a Wakandan ex-patriot who is working for an organization called Desturi. Before she could get answers from him, he detonated a suicide vest, blowing up the entire building. Surviving the blast, Shuri finds herself confronted by the cyborg Ohyaku and her team of assassins once more. Despite being outnumbered and wounded, Shuri is able to hold her own against the attackers thanks to her powers as the Black Panther, as well as the various equipment and weapons she has been outfitted with. Ultimately, Ohyaku is the last to fall in battle.

Meanwhile, back in Wakanda, the worsening economic situation continues. On state television, two talking heads — the liberal M’Toka and conservative N’Dega — both debate over the quality of Queen Shuri’s leadership in this crisis. As the Wakandan economy tanks one newscaster insists on supporting their queen, while the other continues to criticize her apparent lack of action on matters. Watching this growing unrest is the leader of Desturi, who reports back to the man backing him, Doctor Doom, the monarch of Latveria. Satisfied with the current political climate in Wakanda, Doom then contacts the Broker (Walter Delcun) and tells him to move forward with the next phase of their plan. Doom is convinced that this will allow them to conquer Wakanda with little to no opposition.

Doom continues to observe the situation, and watches as Queen Storm (Ororo Monroe) goes out to see the plight of Wakandan farmers. They have been stricken by an unseasonable drought when it should be harvest time. In order to help jumpstart crop growth, she uses her mutant power to control the weather to create a heavy rainfall. This is all according to Doom’s plans.

Back state side, the assassins sent against Shuri have all activated their kill-switches. Luckily, the Panther’s tech guys — Flea and N’Lix — were able to pull more data on this attack that they missed during the last one. She also hears back from her muscle, Zakar and M’yra who went after another Wakandan ex-pat in Philadelphia. They just narriowly escaped with their lives. They confirm that this man also said the same word before he died, “Desturi”. They note that this is a Swahili word meaning “custom” or “tradition”. While Zakar has no idea what it might mean, M’yra recalls hearing the phrase shortly after she had to leave the Dora Milaje due to an injury that took her right hand.

For a time after the accident, she traveled around Africa looking for mercenary work. She was highly sought after due to her training and connection to the Wakandan royal family. In fact, the people who outfitted her with her cybernetic limb were an organization that used the word frequently. It became the mantra of those who were silently opposed to the current rule. They did not like how T’Challa had married a foreign born woman, nor that he sells Vibranium to the world and organizations like SHIELD and the Avengers. In fact, they seek to have Wakanda return to its old isolationist ways.[2]

At the same time, T’Challa continues to prepare to get his revenge against Doctor Doom. With his health fully restored, and with himself and the Dora Milaje having trained in combat against robots, he moves onto the next step. This involves having the witchdoctor Zawavari paint mystical symbols on T’Challa’s body from an ancient and long extinct race. Despite the protests from a Dora named Aneka, T’Challa goes up against four of Zawavari’s most talented students. With the symbols painted on his body, T’Challa orders the acolytes of Zawavari to try their best to kill him with magic.

Meanwhile, Shuri is racing back home to further investigate the Destrui movement. Along the way he contacts Ororo to find out what’s been going on since he left. Storm informs her that there is something wrong with Wakanda’s crops. Despite the fact that she has given them plenty of water to grow, something is preventing the root systems from drinking in the rain water. The two women also relate with each other on how distant T’Challa has gone since his brush with death. Neither of them have been told who it was that attacked T’Challa to begin with. Little do they know that their communications are being watched closely by both Doctor Doom and the Broker. At the same time, T’Challa has survived the mystical onslaught unleashed upon him. When Zawavari asks how he feels, T’Challs exclaims that he has never felt more alive!

By this time, N’Lix — Shuri’s resident technical genius — has managed to pull recorded data from before T’Challa was attacked and before his ship’s black box was deactivated. In the footage, T’Challa is pointing out something swimming in the waters below them that is moving as fast as their Quinjet. After filtering out the noise and amplifying the conversation, they hear T’Challa mention a name: Namor.[3] She confers with Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) of the Fantastic Four regarding this recent development. Reed has been trying to contact Namor, but to no avail. However, he doesn’t believe the Sub-Mariner could be responsible for this, saying Atlantis has always been an ally of Wakanda.[4] Shuri, on the other hand, doesn’t think she can rely on that given how much things have changed recently.[5] As they discuss the matter, Shuri’s assistants are suiting her up in armor. Shuri needs answers from Namor right away and intends to pay him a visit in Atlantis to get them. When Richards asks what she will do if he won’t answer her, Shuri will insist on the matter, implying that she will use violence if necessary. Spying on this communique, Doctor Doom is pleased that everything continues to go according to plan.

Recurring Characters

Black Panthers (Shuri & T’Challa), Storm, Desturi (Ohyaku, T’Kan), Doctor Doom, the Broker, N’Lix, Zakar, Flea, M’yra Zawavari, Aneka, N’Dega, M’Toka

Continuity Notes

1. Shuri took over leadership of Wakanda and the Black Panther role after T’Challa was gravely wounded by Doctor Doom in Black Panther (vol. 5) #1-6. The attempts on her life started in issue #7 and continued on until in each issue leading up to this one.

2. At the time of this story, T’Challa had just recently married Storm in Black Panther (vol. 4) #18. Wakanda used to be an isolationist nation until T’Challa opened it to the world starting in Black Panther #15.

3. This is a scene we saw play out in Black Panther (vol. 5) #1. Namor was trying to convince T’Challa to join the Cabal, a secret superhuman organization formed by Norman Osborn in Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1.

4. Wakanda and Atlantis have been on good diplomatic terms since the Kiber Incident in Defenders #84.

5. Shuri makes passing references to the political climate at the time of this story:

   • She mentions Nick Fury, the former Director of SHIELD. Fury was forced to go underground after it was revealed that he staged an illegal coup in Latveria in Secret War #1-5. He is currently still a fugitive from the law at the time of this story.

   • SHIELD: The spy agency was rendered useless during the recent Skrull invasion of Earth (Secret Invasion #1-8). After killing Queen Varenke the leader of the Skrull invaders, Norman Osborn was put in charge of the organization. He renamed it to HAMMER in Secret Invasion #8. This will remain the status quo until Siege #1-4.

   • Lastly, Tony Stark (aka Iron Man), who was appointed as director of SHIELD following Civil War #1-7. He took the fall for SHIELD being incapacitated during the Skrull invasion because it was his technology that was compromised. At the time of this story, Stark is on the run from the law as well, as seen in Invincible Iron Man #8-19.