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ohjustkreat · 6 months

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Closing The Distance

A Shuri x Riri Fanfic

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A/N: Well hello!!!! Chapter 20 is finally here. 20 chapters and almost a year later, I truly have no words. Thank you to everyone that has read this story. I’m beyond grateful.

As always,

Enjoy,

Kreat

Table of Contents

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Chapter 20

The next day, a new energy was prominent in the air. Riri was currently configuring the last few things on the prototype, or the I-SPY as Riri had come to name it. Carefully, she made the last adjustments and looked proudly over her work. After a moment she stepped back and exhaled, "Now, for the moment of truth."

Pressing one of three buttons on the small device, she saw it flash a light purple signaling it was powered on. Next, she turned on a monitor that bad been linked to the small device. Moments later, she recognized her face as it appeared on the larger monitor. Continuing her testing, Riri picked up a sleek black, remote controller. Pushing one of the switches upwards, the small device began to roll forward. Getting lost in her creation, she didn't notice Shuri who had stopped at the top of the stairs and was watching her.

"Having fun?' Shuri questioned, startling the other woman.

Riri jumped up, almost dropping the remote controller. "Oh, uh, sorry I was just testing the device. Look at this!" Riri said as her nerves calmed and excitement replaced them.

Shuri watched as the device rolled along the floor, evenetually making it's way over to her. Soon it was her face that had been plastered among the monitor.

'If you two are done here, then it would be helpful if you could offer your services." A voice sounded from the top of the lab, at the doorway, belonging to none other than Nakia.

“Greetings, while you two were busy playing with your toys, I was actually doing real work.”

“Not. A. Toy.” Riri said through gritted teeth. “This,” Riri said as she waved one hand under the device, showing it off, “is the I-SPY. Hopefully this little guy can get us a drop.”

Nakia stopped and took a moment to examine the small device from afar.

“Cute.” Nakia said as she started to descend the stairs. “Anyways, I just came across some information I thought you might want to hear.”

Her banter filled face regretfully turned to a small frown.

“Well?” Shuri questioned , eyes wide as she awaited her answer. Her questioning, being only for the sake of details. Shuri had seen the look before, numerous times actually. And all she could do is brace herself for the dreaded news that would follow.

“ I was doing some intel last night and what I found was shocking to say the least. It’s not good to say the least.” Nakia said, with a tablet now in her hands. After a few minutes of touching the screen, numerous documents started to appear above the group’s head. The holographic images showed financial documents, messages, and a plethora of other documents.

“Tell me they aren-“ Riri’s voice questioned among the growing tension.

“Yes, it seems they’ve been secretly dealing arms, specifically small amounts of vibranium to other countries without our knowledge. Knowing Shuri wouldn’t stand for such a thing, well…” Nakia’s voice trailed off as she made eye contact with Shuri, who was standing silent. From previous experience Nakia knew this wasn’t a good thing.

“Where’s M’baku? Does he know?” Shuri questioned as she began to pace her lab’s floors. The thoughts looming in her head would have pushed any other person into a stage of panic. Yet, Shuri was only fueling her rage into a plan of action. At times like this, she couldn’t afford to be selfish and fall to her emotions.

“I spoke with him briefly. He had his suspicions something else was going on that they didn’t want him to know about. From what I can tell, Shuri, they expected him to be more passive than previous rulers.” Nakia spoke carefully, trying her best not to enrage the other woman even more.

Riri approached Shuri, attempting to pull her out of the daze she was in. Placing one hand on the small of the back, she used the other to stroke the side of the taller woman’s face. Instinctively, Shuri relaxed under Riri’s touch. Her eyes fell shut as she exhaled.

“Breathe, baby. Look at me.” Riri hallowed as she coaxed Shuri back to reality.

A few moments passed until Riri saw the ever timeless sight of Shuri’s deep chestnut eyes.

Slowly she saw the flames of rage diminish to embers.

“I’m okay.” Shuri said as she pulled the smaller girl in for a short hug.

“Ahem.” Nakia fake cleared her throat. She grinned at how attached the two had come in such a short time.

At the sound, the couple were jerked out of their world and back into reality. Shuri let Riri go as she finished composing herself. Riri could almost see the wheels turning in Shuri's head. Whatever Shuri was plotting, Riri would do nothing other than support her.

"Hm, GRIOT."

"Yes, Shuri?"

"Contact M'baku, as well as the Dora Milaje and have them meet me here immediately."

"Right away, Shuri." GRIOT responded.

"The situation just went from bad to worse." Shuri looked into the distance, as the weight of her world fell back onto her shoulders.

'Shuri, what should I do?" Nakia questioned.

Shuri looked to Riri then back to Nakia before continuing, "Riri, love, can you give us a moment?"

"Of course. I'm gonna go and tinker with something." Riri muttled off as she left them to talk. She settled in front of a monitor on the far side of the room and inserted her headphones, assuring their privacy.

"Shuri, this is much worse than I thought. They sure covered their asses with this one. There's almost no way to know who they sold them to."

"I know. We need a new plan. But first, I need a list of everyone possibly working with the elders. They aren't capable enough to carry this out themselves."

"On it. I'll be back shortly. I already had a few names, but ,ah, you can never be thorough enough." Nakia turned to leave, but stopped and looked over her shoulder at Shuri. "And before you start being too hard on yourself, you couldn't have prevented this. You did not know." With that she turned and started to ascend the staircase and exited the lab.

Shuri was left grappling with herself. Fighting the parts of her that felt she could have done more. Been more aware, more in tune with what was going on in her kingdom. She would be the first to admit her recent break had been needed, but like all things her time for self reflection and healing had come met its dilemma. The sound of the doors open and a familar voice greeting Nakia pulled Shuri from her thoughts. M'baku had arrived.

'Perfect timing.' Shuri thought to herself as she watched M'baku stalk down the stairs. His mountainous figure coming closer into their view.

A grin crept upon his face before he spoke, "Little panther," M'baku began as he landed at the bottome of the stairs, "I see we have much to talk about."

"Yes, we do. One moment." Shuri excused herself before going to retrieve Riri, who appeared to be entranced in whatever technology she was working on. Shuri lighty grabbed her shoudler and was met with soft brown eyes and a slight smile.

"Hey, you guys done already?" Riri questioned as she got up and entangled herself in Shuri's arms. As much as Riri needed to feel Shuri, she knew Shuri needed it more. No matter how well she carried herself, Riri knew what Shuri really was feeling. Which was anxious and scared. But she also knew that Shuri couldn’t be forced. More so, in Riri’s mind, Shuri was a force all in herself. PpRiri knew to wait and not push Shuri; she would come to her when she was ready.

"Yes, love, we are. Come on." Shuri ushered them back towards where M'baku had settled at the large table in the center of the room.

"So, I see Nakia has shared her findings with you?" M'baku questioned.

"Yes and as you can see it is much worse than we could have ever thought." Shuri replied.

"Any idea on where to start?" Riri chimed in.

"Not really. I've sent Nakia to go and find out more about what's been going on and who all is involved. Once we have more information, all guilty parties will answer accordingly."

"And getting the vibranium and other weapons back? How are we even going to locate them?"

"Once we get more information on the buyers, we can take the known locations of everything and see what we're left with.' Shuri took this time to look up and meet M'baku's eyes, then Riri's before contiuing, "This- this won't be easy or brief."

"I'd be concerned if things were peaceful again. It was getting a little boring. If I’m not saving everyone, what is my purpose?" M'baku sarcastically let out.

"I’m sure we’d manage." Shuri shot back.

"Aht, Aht little panther, " M'baku teased, letting his native tongue linger on the nickname, "Save your energy, you did say this was not going to be a simple task."

Shuri shot a glare at M'baku as she began to protest, but not before getting interrupted.

"Okay, you two, let it go. As you both said, we have a lot of work to do. So," Riri, paused and looked between the two, "Where do we start?"

"You can start with explaining what's going on?" A voice sounded from across the room.

The group turned to meet them. There stood Aneka and Ayo, along with Naseema and Asira.

"Ah, come over and we can get you caught up." Shuri answered.

The small group made their way over to the rest. After they were informed fully on the situation, everyone prepped for the first part of the plan. Which was placing the I-SPY technology.

"So, if everyone is ready, these" Riri, holding one of the small spheres up, " will be placed in every council member's room tonight." She proceeded to hand two to each of the members of the Dora Milaje that were present. "Remember, while they can be operated remotely, you must turn them on first, inputting the password key before starting. Our team of scientists, here, will be monitoring the activity. In shifts, 24/7. Any questions?" Riri looked at the group of warriors, and not to her surprise, no questions.

"Okay, that's it for now. I'll see you all tonight." Shuri said, relieving everyone, watching as the group dispersed.

Riri waited until the room was empty and the last lab assistant had left to approach Shuri. Walking up softly behind her, she placed her hand on Shuri's back and began softly rubbing it. "Hey, you sure you okay? I feel like your mind's been everywhere lately. Even if you don't want to talk, I'm here when you're ready."

Shuri turned to face Riri, as she took her in her arms and olaced her head atop the shorter woman's. "Thank you. And I know. This is just-" Shuri let out a heavy sigh, "Way more than I was expecting."

Riri heard the tears fighting to stay behind the walls of leadership Shuri had built. "Hey, it's okay."

She coaxed as she continued to rub the small of her back.

"It's just," Shuri paused as she collected herself, "I just wish they were here. They'd know what to do."

Riri knew who they were. And it killed her that this was a problem she couldn't fix. "Babe, look at me." Riri pleaded as she pulle away from Shuri, so she could look directly at her. "You're doing everything right. They would have been so proud of you. You're honoring them the best way you know how. By fighting for their memory and their legacy, by using what they taught you."

Shuri only nodded in response, a small smile growing on her face. “I’ve been thinking.” Shuri looked up before continuing. The small smile faded. “There’s still one person I need to talk to.”

Riri’s eyebrows quirked as she waited for Shuri to continue.

“Namor.”

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S/N: Happy belated birthday TISHHHH!!

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