Princess Shuri was quick to strike up a conversation with Susan Storm. Once again, with his glasses and an adjusted concentration of his hearing, Felix listened.
"So, what are your plans?"
…while also talking to Czarina. Yeah, it wasn't easy to pull off. Fortunately, whatever Felix didn't catch with his ears, his special glasses would read their lip movements and put down subtitles. Felix was able to take it all in. His senses dialled up to eleven, he was used to everything being overwhelming. In fact, he liked it that way. It made acting normal easier.
"Plans, huh? Haven't really thought of it," Felix told Czarina.
"You must be here for a reason. I've never heard of someone with less than one year of employment coming here."
Right, that.
"Well, there is someone Dr. Octavius—I mean, Liv wants me to talk to."
Czarina looked around the room. "Anthony Stark? He is an intimidating man."
"Not him. Princess Shuri." Felix kept an eye on Princess Shuri and the good doctor. Right after the princess was done with the blonde actress, the doctor would pounce. For a brief moment, he and Liv made eye contact.
"Need your help," Liv mouthed.
"That's my cue," Felix said. "It was nice seeing you, Czarina."
Her smile was pearly white and gorgeous. "You too, Felix."
He sent her a smile in turn. As he walked off, one thought ran through his mind: 'I don't remember her being so smiley. I guess things have been good for her.' His heart was beating kinda fast though. Pretty women were dangerous.
The floor was glassy and see-through, lending a strange visual experience. For the rich who were adjusted to such luxurious views, it was no issue. An ordinary person like Felix should have been nervous and bumbling over his steps. If only he was ordinary.
The moment Susan Storm ended her conversation with the princess, Felix and Liv went over. Coming from the front side, Felix's shoulders brushed with the blonde actress. Susan didn't seem to mind and smiled at him like it was expected of her.
SUSAN STORM EXPRESSION: ANNOYANCE
A tingle went down his spine. 'Yeah, I got that feeling.' The tingle—the Spider-Sense or whatever he was going to call it—was never wrong. It was like a sixth sense that uniquely connected him to the world.
His Spider-Sense died down as he approached Princess Shuri. Her honey-tinted micro braids were pulled back into a half-up style bun and her earrings shining with no blemishes or faults—according to Herbie, the diamonds dangling from her ears were on the Flawless in the GIA Clarity Grading System and her bracelets which were made of 24K gold. She was the picture of a spoiled rich woman. Young and brash, smirking as Liv anxiously put her hands together.
"And you are…?" Shuri trailed off, nudging her glass of wine towards her. Liv looked to Felix, took a deep breath, and introduced herself.
"Um, hello, Princess. I'm Doctor Olivia Octavius." A woman with shaggy hair and visible nerves. She clashed heavily against the strapless white dress of the princess. Although the dress had a mesh overlay, it was unquestionably more expensive than both of their outfits combined.
"Good evening, Doctor," Shuri greeted. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I must say, I've been eagerly awaiting this opportunity to speak with you, especially given the nature of the project."
Liv went wide-eyed. "Y-you listened to my voicemails?"
Princess Shuri shrugged. "It's hard to ignore an Oscorp lead scientist."
Except, judging by Liv Octavius' expression, that was exactly what she did. Shuri spoke haughtily and with a thick Wakandan accent. Her English was still perfectly eligible and clearly taught late in her life. University in all probability.
NAME: Shuri
OCCUPATION: Princess, Leader of Wakandan Design Group, Professor at Wakanda University, Head of the Science and Information Exchange, Ambassador of Wakanda
GENDER: Female
AGE: 20
MARITAL STATUS: Single
HEIGHT: 5'5 / 1.65 m
WEIGHT: 127 lbs / 57 kg
IRISES: Brown
HAIR COLOUR: Black
EDUCATION: Wakanda University, Future Foundation
PARENTS: T'Chaka (father, deceased), Ramonda (mother)
SIBLINGS: T'Challa (paternal half-brother)
'Makes sense. She probably didn't leave her country till her talents fully blossomed and she was allowed to leave with her own security detail.'
Felix didn't need Herbie to tell him that there were two fake attendees here. One tall man and one short, both in suits and both ready to spring at him at a moment's notice. The first man was four feet to his left, pretending to talk to a woman while secretly eyeing him. The short man was where he had been before, talking with Czarina to pass the time and to get a gauge of what he was doing.
'My Spidey Sense is telling me to be careful,' he thought. 'Not that there's any need. Even a gun wouldn't kill me.'
As the days went by and he became more and more comfortable with his powers, he became certain of that.
"By the way…" Shuri's gaze shifted to Felix, raising a brow as she drank her wine. "Who is this? Your protégé?"
"I'm Felix Faeth. And yes, I've been working with Dr. Octavius—"
"I didn't see your name in the papers," Shuri interrupted. She gave Liv a look. "Don't tell me you've been stealing credit from your inferiors?"
"What? No, no, no. See, Felix is a new addition to the team. He came just six months ago."
"Oh?" Her powerful gaze went back to him, lips curving up into a smirk. "You must be quite the talent then, eh? This doctor was being quite secretive about everything. Something about the CEO—"
"That's not—can we not…hehe." Liv gulped and rubbed the back of her neck. She, for all her experience, wasn't very good at this. "Dr. Faeth is a wonderful addition to the project and has been…assisting me from time to time prior to what we discussed on the phone."
Felix instantly understood what she was trying to do.
'I see. I guess Shuri picked up on the fact that some of the stuff wasn't written by Dr. Octavius. A genius like her isn't fooled, especially since Dr. Octavius is an industry setter. She has habits and tendencies and some of the stuff revolving around Project New Element is completely out of left field.' That was Reed Richards for you. The kid had been leagues above everyone else. 'With me here though, Shuri is willing to think all that stuff was my doing. Dr. Octavius…you might be a nervous wreck but you're very cunning, aren't you?'
He was impressed. Little ol' Liv had figured out Shuri's thoughts before she formulated them.
"If that's the case," Shuri replied with a small smirk and a playful tone, "you both might be disappointed to know that I'm a little bit of a skeptic. I liked our little discussion, but a little talk isn't enough. I want to understand the people behind it. Tell me, why do you wish for this? Beyond the generic wanting to help people nonsense."
"I…" Liv glanced at Felix, then swallowed the fear in her throat. "My brother…he always dreamt of having the power of the sun within humanity's hands. After his passing, that task has been handed to me."
"Tragic backstory. I liked it." Shuri nodded in approval. "And you?"
"...I had a friend once. Reed Richards, a kid. He was…" Felix smiled softly. "He was a good kid and a better scientist. He would want me to work on something like this."
Shuri didn't speak. "What did you just say…?"
Felix didn't understand. "Err, one of my friends, Reed—
"Reed," Shuri repeated in disbelief. "Reed Richards…is dead? But…when…?"
She knew him…? Wait a minute…
("...bad. When I was six, I was expelled from my high school for burning down the school's main wing with cosmic fire. Then at my next school I was expelled for causing another fire in my first semester. Years later, I was enrolled in the Future Foundation but was expelled for causing an incident involving cosmic ice.")
"I went to the Future Foundation with him," Shuri said, scoffing. "That little shit was the only person smarter than me in the academy! And five years younger than me too! Youngest kid to ever attend the Future Foundation, youngest kid to ever receive the Full Future Scholarship…he broke all my records." She shook her head and wiped the sudden sweat on her forehead. "He died? When?"
"Did you hear about the incident at Oscorp Tower? Sometime early April?"
"Back then…oh! I don't really keep up with the news." Shuri let out a frustrated sigh and gestured at a nearby waiter. "Fill it up."
The waiter looked her up and down. "Um, Your Highnes—"
"I said fill it up. I'm not in the mood for your American laws. I'm an ambassador, remember? I have diplomatic immunity."
The waiter, wanting to keep his job, refilled the twenty-year-old woman's glass of wine. Felix and Liv watched Shuri down it in five seconds and then immediately ask for another refill. Then another. Then another…
'The seduction plan is kinda going down the drain,' he thought. But intervening in her minute of sorrow (?) would worsen things.
"Alright, you two are coming with me," Shuri said.
"Um, shouldn't we wait for—"
"Screw him," Shuri cut off. Her dark cheeks had a bit of pink to them. Yep, she was drunk. "Let's go. We're going to my lab."
"Y-your lab?" Liv repeated. "Um, should we wait for—"
"Not gonna say it again. Come on, let's go!" She made a spinning gesture with her finger, promptly turning on her heel to leave.
'W-wait, that's it? The CEO hasn't even arrived yet—' Felix's thoughts were forced to end as Liv motioned at him to catch up. With a sigh, he speed-walked over, noticing the increasing alertness of her guards.
On the way, Felix walked past Emma Frost, who was still with Anthony Stark and Ororo. For a moment, her eyes flickered over the Princess of Kenya and to him. It was like time stopped. Her expression went wide and it was like she was stunned by something.
By him.
'No way.' He quickly went to the door. 'I must be imagining it.'
So what was the lingering feeling in the back of his head? Why was his Spider-Sense active yet not? He didn't understand and he didn't have the time to either. Luckily for him, he had someone to help him out.
DR. FAETH. ALL FACES HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED. AVAILABLE INFORMATION ON THEIR STOCK TRADING HAS ALSO BEEN COLLECTED
Besides his shared goal with Maria, which was to discover more about Project New Element and ascertain Dr. Octavius' loyalties, he needed a list of all the wealthiest individuals connected to New York. He needed to have a list of the potential suspects behind the hiring of Crossbones.
All that information plus more was uncovered.
***
"You know this dress is actually my lab coat?"
"I-I see?"
Liv and Shuri were talking in the back of the black car. Felix sat in the front, keenly listening to the drunk Shuri and the bumbling doctor. He couldn't help but smile.
That didn't mean his guard was down though. As long as the woman next to him was at the driver's wheel, his Spider-Sense remained in a passive state of activity.
"Does the princess always do this kind of thing?" Felix asked quietly, his shades quietly analyzing the female driver.
NAME: Okoye
OCCUPATION: Driver
GENDER: Female
AGE: ?
MARITAL STATUS: ?
HEIGHT: 5'5 / 1.65 m
WEIGHT: 127 lbs / 57 kg
IRISES: Brown
HAIR COLOUR: Shaved
EDUCATION: ?
PARENTS: Unidentified father, unidentified mother
SIBLINGS: ?
'She's probably a government agent. I doubt I'll get something out of her but it'll be more suspicious if I don't talk.'
"Get drunk? No. Take random scientists to her lab? Yes," Okoye said stoically.
"Ugh!" From the back, Shuri groaned. "Those ignorant reporters think I'm screwing everyone I take back! So annoying! Sorry, but I'm not like that Storm bitch!"
'Storm bitch?'
ORORO MUNROE IS ALSO REGARDED AS STORM FOR HER STORMY PERSONALITY DURING TROUBLED TIMES.
'Ah.' Felix blinked twice. 'Wait, so…all that stuff about Shuri's sex life was...was a misunderstanding!? Really!? I mean…I guess that's good. Right?'
Felix had been preparing to screw a woman today. All week, he had been "practicing" with Maria. Guess it was all for naught.
"Screw her! But not literally!" Shuri said, raising a hand in the air before dropping it. If there was an over-the-top drunk, it would be Shuri. She was acting like a total fool.
In ten minutes, between complaints about Ororo and a short nap, they arrived at their destination. A cube-shaped black building on the edge of Midtown Manhattan. The front of the building was covered in panels of glass that had been arranged to resemble a sort of intricate mosaic pattern, with the center panel containing the entranceway and the windows on either side arranged into the shape of a human skull. There was no name, nothing. It was almost like the building was here for no reason.
An average New Yorker wouldn't care. Felix also wouldn't care.
But today, he was with Shuri and she made this building special. Okoye got up and opened the door for Her Highness. Even though she pretended to be unfazed, Felix was able to feel the "rolling my eyes" vibe from her. Both Liv and Felix waited as Shuri stumbled out of the car.
"Princess, please," Okoye said, irritated. "I know you drank but—"
"Whatever, let me go," Shuri dismissed nonchalantly, taking a couple of steps forward and promptly face-planting onto the ground. Felix winced instinctively, but Shuri quickly rebounded. "I-I'm okay!"
"Princess—"
"What did I say? Stay in the car."
"You didn't say that—"
"I said it in my head! Princess' orders! I'm heading to my lab. Don't disturb me." Shuri declared, leaving no room for argument. She proceeded to sashay towards the building with Felix and Liv following close behind. Okoye's gaze stayed on their backs.
Felix watched as Shuri swiped her ID card with a practiced ease. Beep! The door to the cube-shaped building slid open, revealing a small receptionist area and an open high-tech laboratory.
Once the door behind them closed, Shuri straightened up, her posture shifting from the slightly tipsy sway to a more composed and regal stance. "Alright, that's enough of that."
Liv looked confused. Felix wasn't.
Shuri rolled her shoulders, explaining, "Okoye works for my brother and my brother can be…very protective of Wakandan interests. I don't care for politics. There's a reason I went to the Future Foundation—I wanted to learn and grow beyond Wakanda."
Her microexpressions, though convincing to the naked eye and even Herbie, did not fool Felix's own intuition. 'I'll have to calibrate Herbie to better analyze human expressions,' Felix told himself.
"O-oh, I see." Liv began to look around. "So, um, why are we here? For research?"
The inside of Shuri's lab in New York was a maze of hi-tech equipment, monitors, and computer terminals. A large room with a white, marble floor and high ceilings, with a number of tables and workbenches scattered throughout.
In the center of the room, where Shuri immediately went like it was home, was a large control panel covered in various buttons and knobs, all of which appeared to be labeled in the Wakandan language. Liv seemed not to struggle with the language. Felix would have if not for Herbie translating everything in real-time.
"Research, yes. Hand me your papers."
"L-like…?"
"All of them," Shuri said. "Even if this thing doesn't work…" She looked to Felix. "I want to at least be able to work with Reed Richard's friend."
"Huh?"
"He had no friends, you know, because everyone was much dumber than him." Shuri laughed a little. "Even me. I had no idea what he was talking about. He went on and on about cosmic fires. Like seriously? Cosmic fires? Absolutely ridiculous. But…" Her voice softened. "...he did the impossible. He made them appear. The Future Foundation was afraid of him, suspended him, and sent him to the government."
"Yes, that's how I first met him. We…were hiring and he was very interested in my research," Liv said. "I was surprised. He didn't just know everything about my research but my brother's too. He told me about his thoughts on renewable energy and how it could happen—and it just so happened to coincide with Project New Element."
"Ah, so it was Reed that helped you?"
Liv nodded. "No point in hiding it, I suppose." Suddenly, she smiled and gestured at Felix. "But you know, Reed always said the only guy smarter than him was Felix over here."
"Really?" Shuri crossed her arms. "That is one hell of a reference."
Felix shook his head. "That kid always misunderstood things." Reed had regarded his desperate, week-long late-nighter, half-drunk thesis on Extremis to be viable. He called it a work of genius that could potentially solve every flaw in humanity. Hunger, cancer, parasites and cases of flu—he said Extremis could cure it all.
All that research had manifested in the form of Felix.
"I am curious though," Shuri said. "Who commissioned this project?"
"Who?" Liv inhaled sharply. "I…"
"I don't like secrets and you were way too hush-hush about it," Shuri said. Liv bit her bottom lip and the princess leaned on the control panel, recrossing her arms. "What's wrong? You said it was originally your idea, right? That someone else commissioned it? I won't get mad about who is supplying you the big bucks. Being a scientist isn't easy, I know. I'm a princess and it was still hard for me to get certain shit done."
"It's…well, supposed to be a secret. Only me and the commissioner are supposed to know."
"I earn my living by dealing in secrets." Shuri narrowed her eyes. "Tell me, Dr. Octavius: who is it?"
A shaky breath accompanied an audible gulp. "Norman Osborn."