When the coin caught his eye amidst a battle Thanos and his companions, it hardly seemed a good time to stop and examine the shiny bauble further, but that was precisely what T'Challa found himself doing. Something in the coin called out to him and beckoned him closer against all reason. As he touched it, T'Challa's surroundings shifted away and in the next instant, he was not standing on a battlefield. Instead, he was lying prone, waking up on an unfamiliar bed, even though he could not remember having gone to sleep. It was disorienting, to say the least, but the king of Wakanda was no stranger to the mystical and this wasn't the strangest circumstance he had ever found himself in, even if it certainly ranked up there.
T'Challa had just sat up when the hologram appeared to greet him and explain where he was, how he'd come to be here and why he'd been brought to this place. The legend of Atlantis was not at all unfamiliar to him, even though this was a not a place he had ever expected to visit. He listened to the hologram, interjecting now and then with a question. Chief among them was why it had taken these people so long to call on Wakanda. The hologram laughed and informed him that his little sister had asked a similar question, words that immediately piqued his interest. Further questions about the war would wait while he asked about his younger sibling.
"Shuri? Shuri is here?" Reminding himself that Shuri could take care of herself, he refused to let any anxiety take hold. The middle of a war zone was that last place he wanted his little sister, but at the same time, he was comforted to know she was here. Asking the hologram a few more questions, even as he learned there were more familiar names and faces who had been drafted for this war, he decided his priority would be finding Shuri and getting her perspective on everything.
Between the rush of memories, the knowledge that he turned to dust in front of Okoye, Shuri was struggling to keep herself fully together. Now seeing her brother's name show up on the list. She asked a quick question of where he was housed and was not surprised to see he was moved in with herself and Steve*.
"My brother is here!" She told one of the people in the lab with her before darting off towards the towers, bounding to their apartment.
"BROTHER!" She called out not bothering to shut the door to their apartment. "It has taken you this long to come to Atlantis now where are you hiding!"
It didn’t take T’Challa long at all to emerge upon hearing Shuri’s voice and though he kept a kingly posture in his stride, he crossed the apartment quickly to pull her into a warm hug. It had not been that long for him, of course, since he had seen her, but that didn’t make T’Challa any less glad to see his sister.
“How long have you been here?” he asked her moments later when he pulled away again.
Hugging her brother tightly she was a little reluctant to pull back. She'd thought she'd lost him once already, she wasn't okay knowing she did again. "About six weeks, I arrived a little ahead of Okoye who showed up three days after I did." She knew that would make him feel better, that someone they knew well was here with her. "I've been living with Steve Rogers." She answered before he could even ask a question about who she'd been living with.
Nodding, T’Challa gestured to the nearby sofa where they could sit to catch up on everything. “I’m glad you have had some good people around, at least,” he said. It was strange to think that she had been here for so long when he’d seen her much more recently. “Have you been staying out of trouble?” The last part was more teasing.
"What sort of question is that! I am not the sibling that likes to find the most trouble, I am the sibling that gets the other one out of trouble!" She teased right back poking her brother's arm as they sat down. "You will have to see the base soon, it's impressive, not as impressive as Wakanda but it has its benefits."
“Of course it’s not as impressive as Wakanda,” he half-joked. “They didn’t ask us to help build it. I doubt the technology can really compare to what we are used to, but I’ll admit their hologram was impressive.” He paused before getting a little more serious again. “What else can you tell me about this Atlantis?”
“It would have been wise of them if they had asked us.” She agreed with a cheeky grin. “But you will find much about this place impressive, there is strange elements to it, people from many different worlds with a wide range of knowledge and technology. While some of the designs aren’t as clean as they could be, some are very impressive.”
T’Challa nodded. “And this war they are asking us to fight?” he asked, leaning forward a little. He hadn’t yet had the time to look at the briefs on his tablet for more information and was limited to just what the hologram had told him, which wasn’t very much. He also wanted Shuri’s opinions on that.
“A world without creative thought would be extremely dull and extremely boring and I do not accept a world where everything is devoid of color, and inventions,” Shuri answered. “I think they need us, why they didn’t call on us first is beyond me.”
“That is something we can agree on, sister,” T’Challa said with a smile. “How is this war going so far? Is the fight going well? What do you think of the others they’ve called her?”
“As far as I can tell, the good guys are winning, there are more tools locked up here than with the COS agents, but I fear we’ll get over sure of ourselves here.” She hadn’t shared that fear yet, but it had been bothering her. “There are a lot of good people, you have a large number from our world, from Harry Potter and all around. Most seem very interested in the fight, some are more focused on their day to day lives. Steve Rogers, he’s been my guardian, has a girlfriend.”
T’Challa nodded, listening to Shuri’s assessment, but there was an obvious look of surprise when she mentioned Steve Rogers had a girlfriend. “I realize he’s probably been here for quite some time, but it seems strange when I think I only just saw him. Is it someone from our world?”
"He's been here since February, I got here in April. It's a relatively new relationship I believe." She confirmed. "It is very weird seeing people and than seeing them hours later and it has been days for them. Luckily Okoye arrived only three days after I did." She counted herself very lucky for that.
“It’s certainly going to take some getting used to,” he admitted. He had the feeling that a lot of things about Atlantis would. Smiling again, he playfully nudged Shuri with his elbom. “How do you feel about showing your big brother around the city?” he asked.
“I think I can manage that, although we must find Okoye first.” She knew how hard things were for Okoye with what happened and she knew she’d need to see her brother to believe he really was okay.
"Very well," he said, agreeing easily to seeing Okoye. "Lead the way, sister."