DoorMan (MCU SI) - #120 : Heavy is the head that wears the crown

Disclaimer - I don’t own Marvel or any of its characters. The Mighty Mouse does =and I hope it is not standing behind me with a shotgun cocked and ready to blow my brains out the second I have the audacity to press PUBLI——

DoorMan #120

Wakanda [May 2008]

–Colin Baxter–

“Redemption, huh?” he said out loud, watching the information being displayed on the displays. He devoured and processed a vast amount of information within a few moments before he turned around, eyeing Shuri with a surprised look in his eyes. After a while, he realised that she could not see his face so he voiced his surprise.

“Um, this is surprising.”

“Right? At first, I thought of disseminating all the technology that would have otherwise found its way in the hands of the outsiders anyway but then, I thought of the ramifications of a bunch of stuff just appearing like that so I chose this,” She gestured to the displays behind him and he nodded.

She was right about the first part. Something like that appearing all at once would arouse suspicion across the world and there was a risk, no matter how small, that in their hunt for the perpetrator, they might end up finding Wakanda. What he did not understand was the medicines.

It had a lot of stuff that most soul sucking monsters that masqueraded as humans in the medicine industry would not like. For example, the semi-universal treatment for cancer and outright pills for lung and breast cancer, the most common forms of cancer. That was not even taking into account the one time vaccines for AIDS and HIV. 

She would tank many billion dollar companies with this move, if it ever made its way to the rest of the world anyway.

While this was surprising, the dissemination of all those medicines was not the most surprising thing. The more surprising part was her comprehensive plan to make sure those medicines reached the people who needed them most.  

Unfortunately, it meant that many countries in the West, with developed medical lobbies, would not get the medicine in the first wave, primarily focusing on Asia, more importantly, poorer parts of Asia and Africa. She focused her protection efforts on making sure that the governments in those places were blackmailed into compliance and the medicine was distributed en masse, reducing any effort in containing them to null.

Then, the next part was brilliant. She l[panned on shielding the countries in Asia with Wakanda’s resources in the corporate world, for at least a year, which was plenty of time to fan the flames, which she planned on doing as well, and get the common population to turn on their politicians, so much so that no amount of lobbying would stop those medicines.

She would be open sourcing the medicine’s formulas and then, just for shits and giggles, going to actively sabotage any company in the West which tried to patent this.

All in all, a good, great plan even. He just wondered how Bast approved this. He eyes Shuri with even more confusion than before.

‘Jin’Ya, is she not compromised?’ He pinged Jin’Ya through their mental link. He knew Bast would detect that but it was not as if she did not already know about Jin’Ya, and the best she could do was tell Shuri about him, which would not change much in his opinion.

‘I am not sure. I cannot do a scan without alerting Bast and we cannot predict her reaction.’

True. So, he let the matter be, isnrtead focusing on Shuri’s plans, which were good, and if successfully executed, would collapse a significant portion of the medical industry, and increase unemployment in some developing countries, raise the strain on social services in developed countries though the strain on their socialised healthcare would drop as well so maybe they would be fine?

He did not know the actual impact of all of this. So, he asked the lady who was way smarter than him, and that was before she juiced herself up to become a Super Black Panther.

“Have you thought of the repercussions? Of upending a very significant portion of the medical industry as a whole?”

Shuri nodded, waving her hand as the current set of screens was changed to show another thing entirely, this time, showing actions she intended to take in the background, hidden, “I have. Though even I and Griot together couldn’t accurately map the fallout from my actions.”

He snorted as he leaned forward, to get a better idea of her plan, “I would be surprised if you could, because then, you would have either found time travel, mind control or plain discovered the plan of the universe because you would have proven that free will is just a myth, and everything is predestined.”

“Yes,” Shuri admitted, “Human stupidity is rather hard to predict, after all.

He turned around, smirking at her, “Hey! Careful about that. Human stupidity is a prime reason we are as unpredictable and as odd as it sounds, and as powerful as we are. Free will and the urge to do stupid things with that free will is what has brought us this far. Imagine if the first Black Panther simply did not do a very stupid thing : eat glowing plants?”

Shuri looked amused at that, “You do realise that you just insulted not just Bast but the very first Black Panther, a crime punishable by execution?"

He waved her off, “Bah! You guys would execute an outsider if he breathed wrong, let alone insult your patron God. I am not overly worried about that. Besides,” He grinned as he watched her tense, his orange onesie glowing yellow and orange, “It’s not like I have much to worry about. I mean, you’ve seen what I can do, and since then, I’ve only grown stronger.”

Shuri huffed and waved her hand, removing the plans as well, turning around to work on a strange keyboard, with Griot’s avatar floating beside her. “Yes, I am quite aware of what you can do and what it can take from you,” She turned around to look where his arms would have been, “So, I have been working on something for that. Now, I will need a proper DNA sample, along with a full energy profile if I am to build a complete replacement but I think that combining your innate healing energy with the Hearth shaped herb and some extra supplements, should suffice to create a set of arms that will assimilate perfectly with your immune system.”

Ah, so that’s how it was. Bast wanted that serum in his body so she could summon his Astral Spirit, and in Bast’s realm no less, which was like stepping into the lion’s den, and the lion was very interested in controlling your mind.

Instead of being angry, he instead relaxed at the revelation. At least, now he knew what her plan was and how SHuri was being utilised to make it true. The rest of this stuff, the project Redemption stuff was probably just so he would lower his guard.

Alas, he was no mere greenhorn here.

“Ah,” He began, “There is no need for that. I am fine with my current situation and already have people working for me on that problem. We should have a solution ready in the next couple of years. Once we have that solution, we are going to release that to the public. Combined with what you have going on with your project redemption, together, we will bring the medical industry to its knees.”

“And collapse entire economies in its wake,” Shuri finished, acting as the mood downer, though what she said was true.

“Ah,” He nodded at that, sitting down on a dimensional energy chair, rubbing his chin, “You speak truth. A tantalising question, is it not? How many people would you save by simply flooding the world with medicine capable of outright preventing most common illnesses and curing all but the most dangerous ones, Vs how many people would die from the ensuing economic collapse from entire industries dying out and the attacks from the people in power?”

All he got was silence from her so he prompted, “So? What do your calculations say?”

“Millions.”

“Huh?”

“Millions. Dead. In less than a decade, about 100 million people will die from the aftermath of a sudden medical flood.”

“Wow. That sounds a lot, until we look at yearly cancer deaths?”

“About 10 million.”

“Huh, so the people you would save from cancer, the same amount die due to global unrest?”

“Yes but that is only if the worst case scenario is unleashed, with me just flooding the planet recklessly.”

“Yes, I am sure you won’t do that but it's good to know what could happen if you did, to know the consequences of your actions should you mess up. Heavy is the head that wears the crown and all that jazz.”

“Ha-ha,” Shuri laughed sarcastically.

Then, he tensed imperceptibly, as he felt the arrival of two people, both super strong and likely Black Panthers. 

Huh, T’Challa and T’Chaka then?