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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2017 10:13:05 GMT -6
Former Markovian Embassy - 13:00 Taking a deep breath, she focused on the task at hand. To her, war was easy. It was her second nature to fight, but this was different altogether. She held a piece of paper tightly, make it crumple lightly. She took a deep breath as she looked at the podium she would be speaking on a few minutes later. "<Nervous?>" Asked her head of security, Dmitri in Markovian "<That obvious, huh?>," she said with a nervous chuckle. "<You have nothing to worry about. The DSS has assured us that they have everything covered, and even then I have my men stationed in the crowd and on anti-sniper on the roof>" Dmitri said placing a hand on her shoulder. "<If anything goes wrong you can personally blame me>" He said followed by a deceivingly hearty laugh. Zora returned the laugh but that wasn't why she was worried. This was an important occasion to try and rally support for her cause by other nations. She knew that with one wrong thing said or one thing said out of context could mean the end of it all. She looked over the speech again trying to memorise some sections off by heart so she wouldn't be looking at the paper over and over. This was one of the few occasions she couldn't speak from the heart, speaking from the heart caused controversy. A nicely written politically correct speech she revised over and over making it perfect. Zora saw the former ambassador to Markovia motion her over. She knew it was time to deliver her speech. She also had it held outside as a sign of defiance to Doom as an 'I'm not afraid to speak publicly about your tyranny' It was dangerous, but Zora would never back down in the face of anger, especially when it came to defying Von Doom. As Zora approached the podium she looked at the gathered audience, there were several cameras pointed at her as were supports eagerly waiting to hear her speak. She placed the speech down in front of her and took a deep breath. "The atrocities done to the people of Markovia and Latveria should be a crime against the most basic of human ri-"Two bangs went off. One from behind her and not even a second later one came from across the street. It was immediately followed by an extremely painful feeling coming from her gut. She instantly went to grasp for the pain and saw that her hand was being covered in her own blood. It didn't take her long to collapse from shock, the last thing she was Dmitri running towards her.
NYU Langone Medical Center- 2 days later - 15:00 Time seemed to move in a blur. She only remembered bits and pieces. Screaming, yelling, panic and pain. Lots and lots of pain. She stirred in her sleep as the incident repeated over and over in her head. Then was a long period of darkness and peace. She didn't know how long she was gone but she slowly stirred awake from her rest. Her eyes slowly opened to a white room filled with sunlight. She guessed she was moved to a hospital after the assassination. She was still too dazed to fully see clearly. She only saw a lone, blurry, figure to the right of her. "Dmitri?" she asked much weaker than expected. She tried to sit up which was immediately followed by a severe stabbing pain in her gut, which she immediately went to grasp with a pained hiss coming from her mouth. Before she slouched back into the hospital bed. Trying to clear her head and think straight. An area which the pain wouldn't help. "reminded me to never get shot again." she said with a meek chuckle afterward.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2017 12:47:08 GMT -6
Jakkara was in the Avengers mansion when he got the call, a close friend from his childhood had been shot while she was giving a speech right here in New York. He quickly got over to the hospital and decided to stay there, while she was unconcious he made sure most of his equipment would be brought over so he could work on his projects from there ensuring he didn't have to leave every hour or so. In fact he got no distress call over the last few days and spent most of his time in her room acting as her bodyguard and helping take care for her.
Jakkara would stay close to Zora to make sure no one would come back to finish what they started and he had worked closely with her head of security though he was slightly wary of him and possibly even blaming him for what happened. Regardless, Jak wouldn't let this happen again so he stayed with her until she was safe. And so he slept in the chair that was there and worked on some of his projects from the hospital room. He would also work out in the hospital to the amusement of the nurses and chose to read up on some Markovian books he found in the library.
Jak was talking with the nurse when suddenly his attention shifted , he could hear her heartbeat and breathing pattern change not in a bad way but in a good way actually. He rushed over and smiled when she confused him with Dimitri who , despite having been there with them for most of the time was out taking care of some business though there would always be to guards standing outside.
"Not Dimitri Zor... And now you know how it feels, welcome to the club"
Jakkara spoke with a smile while holding her hand in both of his , even though they were not related Jak viewed her as family as they spent a part of their childhood playing and training together and in his family that's what family did. He was visibly worried and tried to make her as comfortable as he could.
"It's best to lie down Zorie, how are you feeling? Do you want anything?"
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2017 15:04:55 GMT -6
She smiled as her head cleared up enough to realise it was Jakkara with her. She grabbed his hands tight and strained to pull him in closer to give him a hug. It had been years since she saw him last, it was back in Wakanda and she left so suddenly she never really got to say proper goodbyes to them all, she left fast just leaving behind a note due to not wanting to argue with any of them if it was safe for her to leave or even worse, come along. She always regretted it a little with the others such as T'Shan and Z'wena, but her biggest regret was definitely never saying a proper goodbye to Jakkara. So she tried to make the hug last and even gave him a little kiss on the cheek.
"Jakky! Oh, it's good to see you again." She said with a lot stronger voice filled with energy. She never really liked to show weakness to the ones she loved, even know she was holding back letting out an audible sign of pain, instead biting her lower lip to keep it shut and distracting herself.
"I'm fine Jak, darling." she tried to sit up fully. Moving through the pain. She knew she'd be fine. She looked around the room at everything that was lying about. The little area he's been living in the last few days, the books about Markovia were a nice surprise to see, and of course whatever amazing invention he was crafting right now. He always seemed to keep himself busy somehow, even as a kid. Either training, working, reading or inventing. It was fascinating to see him work and impressive how convicted he was to his work.
Zora stirred for a moment, seemingly in thought, before looking back up at Jak.
"On second thought, could you grab me some clothes? I can't very well leave looking like this." Zora said removing the heart monitor detector on her thumb which made it flatline. Zora sighed annoyingly and tried to turn off the machine, pressing the buttons annoyingly before it turned off. This definitely wasn't giving her head any rest. "Stupid machine." She said annoyed, slapping the screen in frustration
She had no intention of staying here long. She still had her duties to do and speech to deliver properly. However, she first had to find whoever shot her and taking him out. She had to teach the people of the underworld here that she was not one to be messed with. No matter how much Doom paid for her death. It was going to be hard for anyone to stop her, she had already made up her mind.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2017 18:46:55 GMT -6
Jakkara flashed a broad smile when Zora hugged him and called out his nickname, few called him that and next to his family Zora was one of the very few who called him that though Jakkara saw her as family anyway. It had been such a long time since he saw her and he did not really know how to greet her so when she hugged him he felt relieved. He was glad she was okay but knew that she was still in pain, being shot was no walk in the park and he was worried to say the least. He kept his eyes on Zora and tried to hold her in her place without being too rough out of fear for hurting her, she was stubborn when it came to things like this and Jak knew she would try to get out as soon as she could.
"Sweetheart, why don't you just lay down for a second and get some rest. I took care of some things and will stay here with you. I sent Dimitri out with some of my contacts and even got a small group of former Hatut Zeraze looking for the person responsible, don't tell anyone though."
He spoke in a soft voice, being a respected man among the Hatut Zeraze had it's benefits but even as a prince he had to do this covert so he decided to call in some favors from Hatut Zeraze vets and have them extradite the one responsible to the right authorities.
"In the meantime I will take over your security and keep you company, whatever you may need will be deliver to you."
Jak stood up from his seat and went over to his desk grabbing a phone from it and walked back to the bed. He had took his time to make some adjustments to the phone while there and hoped it would distract Zora from trying to get away.
"Look, I took the liberty to make some improvements to your phone. It now works via a special coding system that only Wakandans know how to use and I added some extra firewalls, now you can connect to the mainstream coding through a gateway but most technology can't work the other way around so basically only those with the same coding system and the know-how to get through this great wall of a fire wall can get in your phone. Furthermore i improved the hardware a bit so the battery will last twice as long and it connects to a sub-division of my own personal cloud where you can store unlimited memory. Pretty cool huh?"
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2017 16:25:30 GMT -6
She sighed, she knew this was going to happen. She tried her best not to get annoyed because she knew everything he did was out of care and love for her. But he did have a point. If Dmitri and some of the Hatut Zeraze were looking for the people responsible, she knew he was going to be found and dealt with. But that always still left a tingling in the back of her head. But what if they don't? She tried to push the idea to the back of her head. She knew Jakky was right and tried to relax even giving him a smile as a show of confidence in his words. She was going to stay put her, but that wasn't going to stop her from stretching her legs.
"Alright Jakky. I trust you." She said calmly, trying to get off the bed, but the pain being so overwhelming she instantly felt nauseous and made her fall back onto the bed.
"Why thank you. It's nice to have a friendly, familiar face protecting me." She said with a smile. "I mean sure the extra powers and involvement of a Wakandan royalty might deter any other attack." She said laughing. "But all joking aside, thank you. I really appreciate it." And she did. Her own security force was good and effective as they would've all be veterans of a war, it was nice to have someone such as Jakkara next to her. Due to both his powers and training made him an amazing guard, but she preferred the emotional level of it. It meant she could reconnect with him and that would make getting shot worth it.
She looked inquisitively as Jakky went to grab something. He definitely had her attention as he started talking about the enhancements he had made for her phone. It was a nice gesture and definitely made it more of a useful thing to use now as it would mean it was possibly proof from any tampering that can be done to it by Doom and his henchmen hopefully. She looked over it as she got her hands on the phone. Unlocking it and checking everything.
"I can't believe you did something like this? It's amazing! Thank you." she said with a smile. It was amazing and he definitely didn't have to do this for her. "You're not going to look through anything I store are you?" she said with a smile but with and actual concern. While she trusted Jakkara there were a lot of things she'd prefer to keep secret and of course private.
She looked down and started thinking. Something struck her hard and fast. "Jakky, how long was I out for?" She said with genuine worry on her face.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2017 15:25:17 GMT -6
Jakkara was relieved when Zora told him she trusted him, he knew from first hand how stubborn she could be and a certain dictator had learned this too by now so he was glad she trusted him by staying put. He smiled when she cracked a joke and expressed her gratitude, she probably knew that Jak was the type of man to do everything for his family and this was the least he could do in his mind. "It's nothing really, disregarding the circumstances... I'm just glad to see you again it's been far too long and I plan to make the most of our time here." His voice was calm and soothing , he didn't want her to feel like a prisoner and was eager to speak to her again after not having spoken to her for quite some time, some e-mails and letters aside.
"Don't worry princess, I won't look through your files I give you my word that I'll respect your privacy and I think it's for the best plausible deniability and all."
He said jokingly, though there was a truth in it it was simply not his business to know the things she might store and he trusted that she would call him if she really needed him. "You've been out for two days darling but don't worry aside from the doctors I personally ran some checks on you and you are perfectly fine all things considered. I have made you an elixir from special healing herbs that only grow in Wakanda but I am willing to bet you will not like the taste. You don't need to drink it if you don't want to but it can help." He spoke while grabbing a cup filled with a certain liquid, he put it beside her giving her the choice wether she wanted to or not.
"But tell me , how have you been? And I mean as Zora not as Terra or bad ass rebel."
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2017 17:01:02 GMT -6
Zora's eyes opened wide when he said two days. She thought it had only been a day or so, not 2 days!
"2 days! It can't have been that long!" She started to freak out a little, trying her best to not do anything too strenuous and focus on the words Jakky was saying, even looking at him with determined and hopefully eyes as he talked about an elixir he had made for her. Zora was determined to do anything to get better. Even drinking whatever this was. She wasn't entirely sure but she trusted Jakky enough to give her something that would help her. She picked up the drink the second he put it down. She raised it to him as a toast
"Zazdarovje." She said as she downed the elixir in one go hoping the taste wouldn't be too horrible for it. And Oh god it was. She started coughing and hacking and put her hand to her mouth.
"I know you said it'd be bad, but I wouldn't assume it tasted like actual dog throw up." She said with a grimace on her face, but she did hope it would work. She really wanted to get better and if drinking something as terrible as this would help, then so be it.
"Jakky, could you be a dear and get me a fruit flavoured soda. As well as a potted plant?" She asked hoping he wouldn't ask too many questions on why. Well, the Soda was to get the horrid taste out of her mouth, the potted plant was more for a way to speed up the healing process than anything. Hopefully, Jakkara would listen to her instructions.
"You wanna hear how I've been? Well, that's a tough question to answer." She said following back in the bed.
"Honestly? Tired. I've been fighting a stalemate war for over 7 years. I honestly just want a break for a month or something. No stressing about if I'd die the next day, no worries that everything I fought for would be erased from history or just a sidenote in a history book. Just lay back somewhere nice and warm in the sun. Away from Doom, away from duty, with friends, or a lover or something. But at the same time, I want to keep fighting. Save the suppressed citizens and finally liberate them and I want to. I just need... actual results. Evidence that I'm hurting Doom where it hurts." She said laying back and sighing.
"I'm sorry I think I went a bit badass Rebel there at the end." She said with a small laugh "I feel like that I have become one with it. My thoughts are with the people as is my heart, and neither will be free from the struggle until they are."
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2017 18:01:10 GMT -6
Jakkara laughed as Zora reacted in the exact way he thought she would, he remembered the first time he drank the elixir and could still taste the horrible taste in his mouth and to someone with enhanced senses of taste like him it felt like it was a thousand times worse as he could taste every single ingredient in it. He took the cup over from Zora and placed it on the cabinet next to him. "Then it's probably best you do not learn the ingredients." He winked as he jokingly smiled at Zora.
After Zora asked for the items he grabbed his Kimoyo Card PDA and typed something on it as moments later two men in black suits with earplugs and sunglasses on came in they looked like typical bodyguards and held the requested items, one having bought a soda from the machine down the hall and another had fetched a potted plant for the rebel leader. Jakky knew he was showing off and smirked at Zora with a confident look on his face.
His face turned on a more serious and worried look as Zora spoke about her worries, he had always been a good listener and a compassionate man and felt obligated to help people around him. He grabbed hold of both of Zora's hands in his own and looked her in the eyes with a comforting look in his own. "Zora, I will help you in this situation allow me to take a look at your army's tech and weapons and I will upgrade them for you, show me your war tactics and I will look for improvement, give me a seat on your council if you must or enlist me as your personal body guard. Whatever it takes, I can't vouch for Wakanda but I will run it through with cousin S'Fada as she has the final say in this matter but I give you my word, I will help you win this war watever it takes and you will rise as the victorious one. In the words of Marc Anythony through William Shakespear; 'Cry Havoc! And let slip the dogs of war.."
Jakkara hoped to motivate his close friend through this small speech and even used the phrase that his commanders used on him when he was serving in the Hatut Zeraze, it had always worked to inspire him and his comrades. He was serious about his offer and hoped he could prevent another attack on Zora's life and wished to stop the person who did this himself but he was careful not to get Wakanda in trouble it could not afford so he would ask his cousin for her permission.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2017 14:56:42 GMT -6
Zora was too enticed on the flavour in her mouth to react to Jakky's little display as it happened. But she did notice it. The moment that the soda was given to her, she opened it and immediately took a mouth full swishing it around her mouth, relishing the taste.
"Uhhmmm thats good to taste again." She said, she rarely had anything such as this. They were more of a luxury, then a commodity that some people here had become accustomed too. After basically finishing half the can, she put in down on the cabinet next to the bed. She looked at Jakkara with slightly devilish look on her face. "Look at you now Jakky, having an army of Bodyguards at your disposa and using them to take care of a Queen. You seem almost 'kingly' if I didn't know you better." she jested at him with a teasing tone.
She smiled happily as Jakkara did make quite a heartfelt speech for her. He had quite the way of inspiring hope and proving his selflessness and the sacrifice he would make for her or any of his family. As would anyone she grew up with help her and have said so to herself personally. She usually accepted offers for training of her soldiers and weaponry, but she felt that this fight needed to be won by hands of both Markovian and Latverian fighters alone. "The offer is nice and the use of Shakespear at the end definitely drove the point home." she said smiling at him, but then her face turned more serious. "But I can only ask for your support in obtaining and upgrading weaponry and training of soldiers. And you must not bother talking to S'Fada. She has made her permissions which she'll allow abundantly clear and I agree with her. If I'm going to win this, I need to win this with my people and make foreign interference to a bare minimum. Plus I'm already endangering my people for doing this, I can't bear the thought of endangering the lives of Wakandan civilians." She said with a sigh. Sure her and S'Fada weren't always the closest but she understood and respected the sacrifices that she was making, more so then the last year in Wakanda.
Zora was looking at the potted plant and then at Jakkara. She didn't know how much he knew about her powers so he didn't want him to freak. She picked up the plant and looked at Jakkara.
"If you would kindly turn around for a second? I need to show a bit of... indecency." She said pointing out the fact that she was wearing a hospital gown. It was awkward situation and she'd rather do this in private, though it seemed Jakkara was unlikely to leave her presence at least while she was still recovering. She was waiting patiently for him to turn around, before lowering her bedding and raising the hospital gown. There seemed to be a white cotton plaster covering part of her stomach. She lifted it slowly winching as she finally saw the wound the bullet had made.
Having to hold back winches of pain as she grabbed the plant and lifted it over the wound, the dirt landing on it stung, but felt good at the same time. Once she believe there was suffeicent dirt covering the wound she put the plant back in the vase and put it on the cabinet. Then reapplied the bandange covering the wound. It would heal the damage faster, even if it looked weird and hygenic to anyone who saw it. She lowered the gown and raised the blanket again.
"Annnddd Done!" she said with slight glee in her voice.
"With American surgery, your elixier and Markovian treatments, I should be better within a day or so." She said with a smile on her face.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2017 11:14:58 GMT -6
Jakkara shook his head and smiled at Zora's remark of him being 'kingly' , he knew that she was just teasing him but it did make him think a bit. He always felt like he was not fit to be king, besides being the youngest heir and thus having little chance to claim the throne rightfully he felt like there were many better candidates and S'Fada was the best he could think of. Perhaps he would one day settle for general but he still did not liked the politics and diplomacy so he would only do it if it was absolutely necessary. "Don't get your hopes up Zora , I like peace of mind too much and I am way too awesome of a soldier to be sitting on a throne."
Jakkara was slightly dissapointed when Zora peacefully declined his proposal he was secretly hoping he could at least get a crack at Doom he was eager to put the man in place but he knew that Zora was the one who should do it with her own people. If Jakkara would interfere too much it would only be another case of a foreign power leaving an empty throne and it would breed more catastrophe but if Zora somehow managed to take down Doom with the people of Latveria/Markovia she would earn their trust and become a respected leader.
"Fine, I'll take a look at some of the weapons and help train your soldiers for you. Just promise me you'll be careful and tell Doom that if he hurts you again he has to answer to me."
He winked at her as he tried to show her that he would at least be ready to protect her. "But I'm keeping a close eye on the situation and the second something can or will happen to you I'm stepping in don't even try to talk me out of that because that is not happening Zorie , the only one who is allowed to kick your ass is me."
Jakkara did what she asked and turned around, he figured that she would use her powers to heal her faster. He knew little of the details of her powers but knew that she was connected to the Earth in a special way. He smelled the strong scent of blood and heard a slight winch of pain that just made it through. He turned back around when she stated that she was done and sat on the chair. "Please , don't pin this all on us you know full well that YOU are the one responsible for your quick recovery. I mean you are one of the thoughest cookies I've ever met and I am not sure even I could get you to the ground and stop you."
He spoke teasingly, trying to ignite a spark of confidence in Zora and hoped to inspire her a bit. "But anyway, now that we are here let's talk battle tactics. What is your strategy and your next plan?"
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2017 9:13:37 GMT -6
She laughed as Jakkara agreed to help with the weaponry and training of soldiers in his own little way. It wasn't new for people around her threatening Doom or 'doing them in' for her or wanting her to do it for them. She never actually met face to face with Doom. much less go one on one. Even if she did it was going to go one of two ways. Either her victorious or her dead. It wasn't something she tried to think about, the thoughts about situations like that would keep popping in her mind. She wouldn't admit to anyone but it usually didn't play out well for her in her head. She worried about if she wasn't ready to let go of her people to do the job, or that the anger she felt so deeply for her would completely wreck the landscape and destroy all that she held dear. She tried to avoid them for that reason, as it made her worry.
"I already have a long list of people who want me to say certain things and do certain things to Doom. Though due to your request still made to being alive, I think I can squeeze you above spitting in his face," she said with a chuckle.
"If I could do something to stop you from saving me, I would. I'm more than capable of being my own saviour. I've done it many times before." she said with a slight sneer and a hard face, but then her face softened and a more compassionate smile spread across her face "But I won't stop from being the hero you are meant to be Jak. Plus a little help here and there would be nice for a rescue. Though don't sound so cocky there, I remember plenty of times when I had you down on the ground and sometimes even in it when you weren't fast enough." She said with a smile remembering about better times in their childhood. Sure she wasn't the best fighter when they were younger, but he powers did make it interesting as did her stubbornness.
"In fact, I wouldn't say no to a brawl once I'm all healed up." she said with a wink and a devious smile.
She blushed slightly at the compliments he was giving her. It was true of course. Her accelerated healing and whatever the elixir did to help would definitely make sure of that, but it wasn't like a gunshot was going to stop her anyways. She had been shot several times already due to her line of work, though no one would know by looking at her body. The healing factor from her powers left her body spotless from any scars. One of the perks of her powers. Thought she was grateful for the hospitality and treatment she was given even if the end point was a bit moot. It did keep up appearances as her powers' potential a tightly held secret.
Her battle tactics were one she did not often talk about with most people, but she did trust Jakkara enough to tell them. He would be one of the few, if not the only, foreigner she would discuss them with. It took a while for Zora to reply, but she closed her eyes. Took a deep breath and talk.
"Not much to tell really. Quick strikes on factories, we mostly focus on the facilities that effect Doom. Luxurious trade routes, factories that build his parts, mines and whatever else we can. Which is all good and we do what we can, but it's difficult. Mainly for the fact that majority of his factories and supporters are in Doomstadt and lock themselves up there. They rarely leave and any attack we try is a fruitless attempt. It's been a stalemate such as that for the longest time. Every town we liberate, they take back, every outward position they try to make too far from the capital we destroy. The obvious thing to do is take out Doom or turn Castle Doom into rubble, which is easier said than done." she said with a tone of sorrow at the end of it. She had tried several times too. All nearly dying and all with few survivors escaping.
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