Queen Dowager's Wrath and Words

-- Golden City, Wakanda --

While J'Zaki and Ororo were cleaning up everything that was going on in Germany, T'Challa was currently in the throne room with the elders of the various tribes, Shuri, and the Queen Dowager, his mother. In the middle of the room, Zemo was on his knees, cuffed at the feet and hands with vibranium. The room was silent. All eyes were on Ramonda.

"Why did you kill my husband?" Ramonda finally asked. This was the question that was bothering her the most.

"I apologize, Queen Ramond..."

"Former! I am the former queen because of you! Because you have killed my husband!" Ramonda interrupted. She would not allow him to call her by the title that she was given when she married her husband and the one she lost when her husband died.

Zemo went on to explain how he had lost his family due to the Avengers conflict in Sokovia and how he wanted to make them pay. He also told them his original plans in full detail.

"I apologize, Queen Dowager Ramonda. The former king's death was not my intention. The bomb was just supposed to plant suspicion on the Winter Soldier. He was an unexpected causality in my quest for revenge on the Avengers. I am willing to accept any punishment given to me."

"Ha!" Ramonda laughed at the man's words. "You accept any punishment I shall give? You think too highly of yourself!" Ramonda slammed her fist down on the throne. "Listen here, Zemo. You have taken my husband from me and nearly taken my second son from me in the same bombing you committed. You have committed regicide and to make it even worse, you are an outsider who has done it. Bring it in!"

Several members of the Dora Milaje walked into the room. Okoye was following behind them with a bowl of glowing purple liquid inside. She then stood next to Zemo and looked at Ramonda.

"We have something called the heart-shaped. It allows those that use it not only the strength and powers of the Black Panther, our champion and protector, but also allows one to visit the ancestral plane and see those who they have lost.

But this is not that. Instead, it is an artificial one that my daughter has created. A failure if you will. It will go through your body and make you face all the pain as if taking the real herb but with none of the benefits. It will also force you to have nightmares of the ones you would have seen on the Ancestral Plane."

Okoye walked in front of Zemo before holding him by the throat and pouring the drink down his throat. Zemo's body started convulsing. He pulled against the restraints on his body to try and stop the pain but all he did was cause his ankles and wrists to bleed. Tears began falling down Zemo's face as he fell unconscious and was forced to witness the nightmares that Ramonda had warned him of.

Queen Ramonda looked on expressionlessly. Even though she was able to inflict pain on the man that killed her husband, it brought the woman no pleasure. The rage burning within her continued to burn just as much as it did when she found out he murdered T'Chaka.

"Take him away. Shuri, make sure that there is enough of that stuff to keep him in that state for a year. Then, he shall be executed before all of Wakanda."

"Yes, your majesty."

"Yes, Mother."

The Dora Milaje dragged Zemo out of the room and to the dungeons while Shuri followed them. The elders soon left, leaving only Ramonda and T'Challa in the throne room.

"Mother..."

"Do not start, T'Challa," Ramonda held up her hand to stop him. She already knew what he was going to say. "Your brother is now the king. He has the authority to do as he pleases."

"But he wants to expose Wakanda. Even if we hide that we have vibranium, they will still be very curious about how we have hidden for so many years. This will bring enemies to our doorsteps."

"And maybe that is fine," Ramonda had begun seeing the world in a different light. "Maybe if they knew just how dangerous it was to provoke us, your father would still be alive."

"So we want them to fear us?"

"Fear and respect us. Your brother has done many things that I used to question but when I look back on his actions, they were each the right things to do. Or at the very least, they were not the wrong things to do. He sees the world in a different way. A way that we are not able to see." Ramonda walked up to T'Challa and placed her hands on his shoulders while looking him in the eyes. "I know that we have raised you to be the king and taught you how to rule. And maybe that's where we went wrong. We did not allow you to become your own person like we did your brother. Take this time, now that the pressure is off of your shoulders, to find yourself."

Ramonda kept thinking about how she had lived her life the past few days. How she had raised their children. Which choices were correct and wrong. And she regretted so many things.

How they focused all their attention on T'Challa. How they focused all of their pressure on T'Challa. How they pretty much ignored their other children.

She wanted to go back and change so much but she knew it was too late. Now, all she could try and do is make sure that she did not take the wrong steps anymore.

'J'Zaki, my son. I hope that you can Wakanda into the nation your father dreamed of but was too afraid to create.'