Hearing his son's words, T'Chaka let out an incredulous laugh.
Aren't you the one who was just introducing yourself?
Still, he didn't dwell on the minor details. He shot T'Challa a glare to warn him not to blab, then turned to Norman.
"Director Osborn, we are deeply grateful that you helped Wakanda capture the criminal Ulysses Klaue."
"Wakanda is a poor, nomadic little country in Africa. We don't have much to offer as thanks…"
He put on a contrite expression.
At that point, Norman said, "Mr. T'Chaka, let's speak candidly."
He had no desire to dance around with T'Chaka. Every day that passed, the Chitauri army drew one step closer to Earth, and the situation was critical.
Norman said, "Wakanda isn't the dirt-poor little country not even worth enslaving that you claim, or that the world believes it to be. Isn't that right?"
At those words, both T'Challa and T'Chaka's expressions shifted.
They grew stern, and their gazes toward Norman darkened.
"Relax, Mr. T'Chaka. Put away the claws. This is H.A.M.M.E.R. headquarters. Even as the Black Panther, you couldn't take on the entire organization."
Norman was being rather diplomatic.
After all, Bant was also present.
He could subdue T'Chaka with one hand, unless the old king could actually summon the Black Panther itself. Not the superhero, but the totem.
"Did Ulysses Klaue tell you?"
T'Chaka calmed down somewhat. He realized that since H.A.M.M.E.R. had captured Ulysses and used him to make contact, they might already have pried some information out of that despicable man.
"I don't know what he told you, but not everything he says is true."
He didn't know how much H.A.M.M.E.R. already knew, so the more he said, the more he risked giving away.
Hearing this, Norman shook his head.
Clearly, T'Chaka wasn't going to spill all his secrets just from a few words.
At that moment, Bant took over. "We've known about Wakanda's true situation for a long time: your vast vibranium reserves and advanced technology. You've simply been isolating yourselves to protect the secret of vibranium."
Bant's words made the old king's expression turn somewhat sour.
Now, he was essentially having his cover blown wide open.
"So... what you want is vibranium as well?"
That was a rhetorical question.
Aside from vibranium, Wakanda really had nothing that interested Bant. But he couldn't say that directly, not unless he was prepared to go to war with Wakanda.
"Take a look at this first, Mr. T'Chaka."
He tapped a few times on the H.A.M.M.E.R. meeting table, which doubled as a supercomputer, and instantly pulled up the data Bant had compiled.
"In a few months, we'll be facing a new enemy." He pointed toward the sky. "Not from any country, but from space."
"If possible, we wouldn't want to disturb Wakanda's peace, but the situation has changed."
Both T'Challa and T'Chaka stared at the screen in utter astonishment. For a moment, they couldn't tell if this was real or something out of a movie.
After a moment, T'Chaka asked, "Is all of this real?"
"It's not April Fools' Day," Norman said, rubbing his forehead.
"A crisis from outer space doesn't just concern the fate of one or two nations. It concerns Wakanda's fate as well."
"Enough!" T'Chaka cut him off directly.
"How much vibranium do you need?"
Straight to the point!
T'Chaka didn't believe H.A.M.M.E.R. Director Norman Osborn would lie to him about something like this. In fact, he couldn't, really.
The timeline was too short, less than a year. If it were a lie, it would fall apart on its own.
"We can provide the vibranium," T'Chaka said, then shook his head. "But Wakanda will not take part in this war."
Hearing this, Bant and Norman said nothing, but T'Challa seemed rather displeased.
He frowned and said, "Father, we can't stay out of this."
"We can't, T'Challa," T'Chaka said, shaking his head gravely.
"Father!"
T'Challa remained unhappy. "If the lips are gone, the teeth will soon feel the cold. This isn't about just one nation. It's about the safety of the entire Earth!"
"Wakanda is not ready."
T'Chaka looked at T'Challa sternly, though he understood his son's perspective.
Years of studying abroad had made T'Challa more connected to the outside world than to Wakanda.
"You've grown too close to the rest of the world, T'Challa. That isn't a bad thing, but you've strayed too far from Wakanda."
In truth, every prince who inherited the Black Panther mantle spent time traveling abroad. For instance, T'Chaka's own father was once a friend of Captain America.
T'Chaka himself had traveled as well, but he had long since returned to his country and ruled Wakanda for many years as king.
To be honest, it wasn't that he didn't want to help; he knew deep down that Wakanda wasn't ready.
The Wakandan people had grown accustomed to their self-sufficient, isolated way of life. Although he was king, there were still many tribes within Wakanda that operated independently.
Those tribal chiefs accepted his rule, but friction between them remained.
If he suddenly announced that Wakanda would open up to the world, it might provoke discontent among the people, possibly even civil war.
Even his decision to provide vibranium to Norman carried enormous risks.
T'Challa only saw the necessity of Wakanda engaging with the world, but failed to see whether Wakanda was truly prepared to face it.
Seeing that father and son were about to argue over their differing views, Bant quickly spoke up: "We understand you, Mr. T'Chaka."
He certainly didn't care about Wakanda's forces, who fought with spears and waged war like tribal skirmishes.
The vibranium was enough.
Of course, he had to say the right things.
"Providing us with vibranium is already an immense help. Everything must be done step by step. H.A.M.M.E.R. absolutely respects Wakanda's sovereignty, and we hope to forge even deeper cooperation in the future."
Then he looked at T'Challa and said, "Prince T'Challa wishes to shoulder more responsibility for the world. I believe he could participate as an individual."
"What do you mean...?"
"I'm sure Prince T'Challa has heard of the Avengers."
Bant was planning to bring Black Panther into the Avengers.
It wasn't that he didn't want him in the Sky Guild, but the Avengers currently had greater renown.
Moreover, unlike the Avengers, the Sky Guild was Bant's personal faction. Whether it was Harry, Peter, or everyone from Sakaar, they were all his own people.
The Avengers, on the other hand, was merely an alliance.
The heroes within it were more independent. As a future king, T'Challa was very strong-willed and not suited to remain in the Sky Guild.
At least, not as a core member.
The same went for Tony. Bant had given him a Sky Guild badge, but hadn't actually brought him into the organization.
Besides...
H.A.M.M.E.R. was essentially the public face of the Sky Guild, so it made little difference where they stood.
"This..."
T'Chaka hesitated, uncertain whether to let his son take such a risk.
But after thinking it over, he figured this might not be a bad idea. If T'Challa operated in the world as an Avenger, then when Wakanda was truly ready one day, it would be easier for them to integrate.
But before that, he needed to take T'Challa back to Wakanda to perform the ritual early, so he could receive the power of the Panther God.
And so they departed, taking Ulysses with them.
Now, as soon as the vibranium arrived, they could immediately begin building the Sky Guild's space station.
Meanwhile, in space.
Dozens of hideous Chitauri Leviathans advanced through the void.
They resembled a pod of giant void whales, swimming through the starry sea known as the universe.
However, these creatures' bodies had been modified. Their insides were like spacecraft, capable of holding many soldiers and weapons.
Accompanying these behemoths was a massive army.
Every corner of the ships and the Leviathans' bodies was crammed with Chitauri warriors, swarming like locusts.
Yet this was not the main Chitauri force, only a vanguard.
The main army was far too massive, and the War Lord was extremely displeased with their pace. So he had dispatched this vanguard to advance at a faster speed, strike first, and begin the war.
Driven by his thirst for war, the King of the Chitauri himself was aboard this vanguard.
He wanted to see rivers of blood!
Before this Chitauri army could reach Earth, though, a different ship that happened to cross their path met a grim fate first.
A Chitauri soldier rushed over and knelt in submission. "Lord, a small vessel has been detected on our route."
The War Lord, far larger than an ordinary Chitauri, sat atop the lead Leviathan and slowly opened his eyes.
"Destroy it!"
In the next instant, countless blasts shot out from the Leviathan horde, streaking toward the small ship.
Inside the ship.
Several blobs of sticky slime, each a different color, were huddled together.
"It's the Chitauri army!"
"Didn't expect to run into these locusts here. If only we could fight..."
"Our ship won't hold out much longer..."
"We need to get out of their attack range, fast."
"Are there any inhabited planets in the nearby star system?"
"There's one. Wait, it looks like Earth."
One of the blobs pulled up the ship's star chart. On the screen, a blue planet appeared before the symbiotes' eyes.
"Excellent! Earth is under the domain of the Asgardians. Thor once defeated the symbiote dragon Grendel. He can defeat the Chitauri army too! Head for that planet, quick!"
Once, when all symbiotes were under the control of Knull, they gathered power from various races across the universe for him.
Until a few centuries ago, the symbiote dragon Grendel came to Earth and was defeated by Thor.
Perhaps it was the lightning, or some other reason. In any case, after that battle, all symbiotes were severed from Knull's connection.
After that, the symbiotes no longer served Knull. Instead, they turned their homeworld into a massive prison to hold their creator.
One might call it a stunning display of filial devotion.
Later, the symbiotes formed an organization called the Agents of the Cosmos, choosing to bond with noble warriors to bring peace to the universe.
The blue symbiote was about to press the ship's jump button to escape, when a black blob shot forward and smashed right into the blue one.
Instantly, the two blobs swirled together as if thrown into a blender.
"Venom, you lunatic! What are you doing?!"
"No running! We should just possess a few Chitauri, take over their bodies, eat their heads, and shove their junk right up the War Lord's ass! Show them what we're made of!"
"Shut up, you dumbass!"
The blue symbiote barely managed to squeeze Venom out of its body, and several other blobs immediately swarmed in to restrain Venom.
Venom was absolutely insane.
They truly couldn't understand what was wrong with his brain.
"I honestly don't know how someone like you became an Agent of the Cosmos. You're by far the worst one."
"That reminds me of a story..."
Venom's face twisted in disgust, as if just thinking of that host made him nauseous.
But no one wanted to hear about his unspeakable past.
Right now, escaping the Chitauri was the priority.
The blue symbiote reached to press the jump button again when...
BOOM!!
An explosion rang out, violently shaking the ship.
The symbiote blobs squeezed together for a moment, then separated. Every instrument in the ship was now blaring alarms.
"The ship's done for! Get to the escape pods!"
The blobs moved in an instant, each squeezing into different escape pods.
The next moment...
BOOM!!!
The ship exploded like a firework, reduced completely to cosmic dust.
The War Lord watched this scene with a perfectly calm expression.
A mere tiny ship, nothing more than a small firework before the real war began.
Soon, the billions of lives on Earth would be at his mercy to slaughter!
At that moment, a hazy, indistinct figure appeared before him. The shadow stood in darkness, its face obscured. However, it was tall and slender, clearly different from the surrounding Chitauri.
"How much longer must I wait?" the shadowy figure demanded.
The War Lord opened his eyes and sneered, "Soon. What's the matter, getting impatient? Or are you afraid to stay by that person's side?"
"Shut up!" the shadow snarled in fury.
"You're nothing but a stray dog under Thanos, and you dare be insolent with me?"
Hearing this, the War Lord said mockingly, "Thanos defeated me. All Chitauri naturally serve him as king."
"You call me a stray dog under his command. Then what are you?"
"A miserable puppet on strings?"
"Not even your own mind belongs to you. Just do what you're supposed to do!"
With that, the War Lord raised his battle axe and fired a purple laser at the shadowy figure.
The beam instantly destroyed the illusion, but just before it did, it illuminated the shadow's face.
Loki.
I wonder if anyone guessed that Loki was the mole. I actually dropped a few hints, like Loki's behavior: when he first arrived on Earth, he instinctively went for the Tesseract and didn't immediately seek out Thor; when Bant lied to him and mentioned Heimdall, he got nervous...
/-\
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