"What happened?" Shuri asked, baffled. She was in too much pain to get up, and her brother, Black Panther, went over to check her injuries.
After examining her, he found no injuries. She was simply sore.
Ryan was just as helpless. "It might be my body's automatic defense mechanism. Anyone who does something it considers threatening gets attacked."
Ordinarily, an attack from Ryan would have reduced Shuri to dust. Fortunately, he had reacted quickly and pulled his strength back at once.
They had barely begun extracting the Mind Stone before running into trouble.
The difficulty was absurd.
But Shuri refused to be discouraged. She pushed away Black Panther's supporting hand and struggled to her feet. "That just makes it a challenge. Ryan, I'll get it out. You'll see."
"I'll be waiting." Ryan nodded, then Scarlet Witch dragged him away.
Scarlet Witch led Ryan to a window in the Wakandan royal residence. From there, they could see all of Wakanda.
Old-fashioned architecture stretched before them, yet high-tech aircraft stood at the airfield.
Overhead was a deep-blue protective shield. Above it, rocks wrapped in red flames came crashing down.
Scarlet Witch froze, then moved closer to Ryan, ready to defend him. "We're under attack."
Ryan nodded. He had realized that too.
Wakanda reacted almost as quickly as they did. As soon as the rocks struck, it assembled its soldiers, who wore equipment that looked as outdated as medieval armor.
In fact, everything they carried was technology far beyond the rest of the world.
Their cloaks became shields when held in front of them, and their spears could fire blue beams.
Above Wakanda, a beautiful meteor shower fell. The meteors struck the shield like pebbles hitting water, raising ripples but doing nothing else.
Black Panther came to the window. "My sister is working