Shuri of Wakanda was, in fact, the pride and joy of Wakanda and the royal family; she was a rare type of genius. From a very young age, she saw the world differently and understood it in ways few could.
A genius like her was born within Wakanda every few generations and would usher in a new golden age.
For those geniuses to be born to the royal family was rare, so it was naturally very exciting that it happened once again. And little Shuri didn't disappoint at all, already by the time she turned ten she had already accomplished much.
She possessed a mind without equality, something that distanced her from others her own age, from pretty much everyone; she had no equal; even the best Wakanda had to offer could, at best, be her assistants; they lacked the ability to match her.
The royal family, however, did everything in their power to nurture and support her. King T'Chaka, her father, and Queen Ramonda, her mother, showered her with endless resources, ensuring that she had access to everything she needed to further her research.
And though T'Challa, her older brother, was occupied with his own duties as heir to the throne, he too recognized his sister's brilliance and respected her intellect deeply.
Yet, despite the support of her family, Shuri was aware of a growing unease. Her advancements, her innovations, they were not always without consequence. She knew that Wakanda's isolationist policies kept their technology hidden from the outside world.
Vibranium was both their blessing and their curse—keeping them powerful but also making them a target. And while she worked tirelessly to improve Wakanda's defenses, she couldn't help but feel a shadow looming just beyond their borders.
One of the reasons for her concern was something that had been recovered not far from Wakanda some time back. It was something that shouldn't have been, and yet it was. Some technology that even Wakanda didn't have.
And some that even Shuri, with all her tech, was unable to fully understand. It was a child, a perfectly normal poor child from one of the neighboring counties. What was special was that this child had a nano-swarm following him around.
By the time the child and his nano-swarm were brought in, Shuri was just beginning to work with nanotech herself. So, it was shocking that someone in the outside world had managed it ahead of time.
More shocking still was the fact that she couldn't fully decode what they had done. The nanomachines seemed almost alive like they weren't fully technology but something different.
The child itself was nothing special, they had easily been able to find his idendity, and nothing in it showed any reason for him possessing such tech, and while he wasn't the most willing to speak about it, he had in the end told them what he knew.
Apparently, it had just appeared one day and followed him around ever since, obeying his orders.
They had done countless tests, and it seemed the nano-swarm needed to eat humans to remain active, which was strange. Everything about them was strange.
The boy, too, seemed to be affected by something they couldn't detect. He became more and more hard to control, acting up even if that put him in danger; in fact, it almost seemed he was doing things just for the danger it put him in.
And the greater the danger, the more active the nano-swarm would become. It was all very strange, and they had no idea who made it or how it ended up with the boy, but it was concerning nonetheless.
After all, everyone understood well enough that it was only their technological advancement that protected them and their Vibranium from the rest of the world.
So if someone out there was able to move ahead of even them, then it could potentially threaten them.
Shuri had spent months studying the boy and his enigmatic nano-swarm, diving deeper into the mysterious technology that defied even her considerable intellect.
She had tested its components, traced its design patterns, and run countless simulations, yet still found herself unable to fully unlock its secrets.
The more she studied it, the more she realized how different it was from anything she had seen, even in the most advanced Wakandan tech.
What disturbed her most was the symbiotic nature of the swarm. The machines weren't just following the boy—they were bonded to him, responding to his emotions, his whims, and especially his reckless desire for danger.
Every time the boy deliberately put himself in peril, the swarm would activate, shielding him from harm and, in the process, consuming anything or anyone that threatened him.
Shuri had never encountered such technology before—something that seemed to exist on the border of life and machine, a hybrid that blurred the line between organism and artificial intelligence.
She had told her father, King T'Chaka, about her concerns, but even with his wisdom, there wasn't much they could do. The boy remained under careful observation, quarantined in a secure facility beneath Wakanda, far from the public eye.
Shuri had been tasked with cracking the mystery of the nano-swarm, but even she knew time was running short. Whoever or whatever had created this technology could not be far behind, and that thought gnawed at her every day.
Still, it also pushed her to work harder and spurred her on to make great advances of her own.
She had made a new suit for her father and for her brother, the new Black Panther; she made it stronger, smaller, easier, and quicker to equip; she made all kinds of new weapons and defenses, and she improved all kinds of designs.
Life in Wakanda was becoming both better and easier every day thanks to her tireless work down in the labs, Yet she couldn't help but wonder if it would be enough.
As a result of the boy, they had also looked more closely at the outside world, trying to find out who made that nano-swarm, yet while they weren't successful in finding them, they did find some interesting things.
For one, they quickly realized that there were many such swarms out there; for most people, it looked like a few murder cases, but they all quickly understood that it was other children with a swarm of their own.
This begged the question of where they were coming from and why they were being given to random kids like that.
The first time could have been an accident, one escaping and finding a child it was compatible with, but with this many, it clearly couldn't be just an accident.
Someone had to be making the swarms and then randomly handing them out to compatible children, but they couldn't find any motive and struggled to find any more swarms; someone was quick to act and capture them all.
It is still unknown whether the same people made the swarms, which casts another layer of mystery over the entire situation.
Then there were other mysteries they found traces of; for one, they had been invited to a most mysterious auction, one which sold things utterly impossible. Yet they had been unable to secure any of the objects sold there.
They had simply not taken it seriously, only going because they were invited to attend it. Given that Wakanda was one of the poorest nations in the world, they weren't often invited for anything, much less such a high-end event.
This meant that the auction house was likely aware that they weren't as poor as they liked to pretend. Their curiosity only extended to send a few people to scout out the situation, which meant that by the time they realized what kind of things were being sold, it was already too late.
After all, while Wakanda had a secret wealth in its Vibranium, it was rather cash-poor, as it would have to sell off some Vibranium or some kind of technology to raise any money. Something that couldn't be done on such short notice.
Due to all this, they kept a sharp eye on the situation outside of their borders, which was why it was so surprising when the shields suddenly came down without any warning and the sky suddenly filled up with hostiles.
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The instant the Shields came down and the golden city and the rest of the true Wakanda became viable to the outside world for the first time in decades, dozens of satellites quickly looked on.
While the Foundation had some backdoor access to Wakanda's satellites, it had still been unable to make a full and detailed map of the place—something it could finally do now.
So, while they ensured the rest of the world noticed nothing of this, they made sure to carefully scan every inch of the hidden nation, their goal simple: to find any possible trace of SCP-499.
Napoleon was flying within his suit la Révolution above the edge of Wakanda, he watched as his fleet quickly move in. Though their attack was far from as brutal as he would have liked. He was waiting, waiting for news.
"General Sir! We have located the target! Sending coordinates at once!" Came the message in his ear soon after the shield came down.
"Tau-5! Get to these coordinates at once! Ensure that SCP-499 and his family are safe, no matter the cost!" Napoleon quickly sent the order on, and then after ensuring that everyone knew that the coordinates where the object was found was to be protected at all cost, he finally ordered the full assault to begin.