A spaceship was speeding toward Earth. Its speed far exceeded any spaceship from Earth's civilization, and satellites near Earth couldn't detect its approach at all, except for the satellites launched under 18's control.
The moment this spaceship entered the solar system, its control system was captured, invaded, and replaced by 18. Now, even if 18 wanted this donut-shaped spaceship to self-destruct in the solar system, there would be no problem.
"Sir, there is good news and bad news."
A virtual screen suddenly appeared in front of Hyuga Mirai. On the screen appeared the usually expressionless 18, but this time 18 was somewhat exceptional, making a leaning-forward posture on the virtual screen because Hyuga Mirai was taking a bath.
"Just give me the bad news first, 18."
"The bad news is that Thanos did not come to Earth."
Hyuga Mirai sighed and asked, "So Thanos's vanguard forces are coming. What's the good news?"
"The good news is that I have already located Thanos's position. If you get out of the bathtub now, sir, you should be able to reach Thanos's location within four hours."
"Great, 18. Fortunately, I have your help."
Hyuga Mirai stood up directly from the bath. After rising, he had already changed into clothes; with nanotechnology, changing outfits in one second was very common.
"I have arranged for energy from various locations to perform the final energy reserves for the Ten-Tails armor. They will assemble at the Divine Tree planting site in two hours."
The Ten-Tails armor was assembled and charged in batches at mechanical manufacturing factories under Future Corporation. These factories were originally Stark Industries' weapons divisions. After being acquired by Hyuga Mirai, they became places to produce and charge the Ten-Tails armor.
Ordinary workers had no idea what this was for. Only the robot managers knew what it was, because each factory only produced a part, and most workers simply followed the daily tasks assigned. Although it wasn't as efficient as having all robots do the work, Hyuga Mirai's resources at the time were all used to produce the Ten-Tails armor.
"18, let me know when all the Ten-Tails armor components are in place."
Hyuga Mirai turned and walked outside. He would put Hyuga Yuzuki inside the spaceship in the Initial Ball Space, which was safest for her. He himself, along with Kurenai Yuhi and Tsunade, would go directly to find Thanos.
He hoped Thanos would stay on Titan a while longer; otherwise, the Ten-Tails wouldn't perform well in space.
"Sir, what should be done with those vanguard forces about to arrive on Earth?"
"Let Peter and the others handle it. It's just a sorcerer and a warrior. Tell them not to argue. If they all want to go, settle it with rock-paper-scissors."
Hyuga Mirai said to 18. Last time, Rumlow and Quicksilver had argued over who would deal with an organ-trafficking gang.
After taking over SHIELD, 18 used its resources to mass-produce robots, and also set up an exclusive "18 Network" for the robots, which other AIs couldn't invade at all.
18 had also thought about how easily the Kree civilization was invaded by her, which led her to consider creating an entirely new network control.
After reporting this to Hyuga Mirai, the ceilings of all mechanical manufacturing factories under Future Corporation opened. Then, one after another, metal armor pieces thirty meters long, thirty meters wide, and five meters thick flew up. Each piece of Ten-Tails armor had its own powered flight capability.
One factory could manufacture dozens and charge them. Now that charging was complete, all of them shot into the sky and flew toward the Divine Tree planting site.
Thus, many people witnessed a strange sight: numerous huge, strange metal flying objects suddenly appeared in the sky, rapidly flying in a certain direction.
"God, what is that? Amazing spaceships?"
"What is America up to now? Is our stupid president trying to start a world war?"
"What can that brain of the president do? I bet he's soiled himself again."
Regarding the Ten-Tails armor, intense debates quickly broke out online. Most people pointed their fingers directly at the US president, the man who had soiled himself at a press conference.
However, a small number of people still captured the origin of the Ten-Tails armor. It turned out to be the factories of the Stark Industries weapons division, which had now become mechanical manufacturing factories for Future Biopharmaceutical.
Although the origin of the Ten-Tails armor was gradually being uncovered, more netizens still suspected the US government, because Future Biopharmaceutical Company's reputation was too good. Not to mention their charitable acts, just those few superheroes alone had a massive fan base.
Even the most mysterious Princess of Strength had a fan club of over a million people, even though they had never seen what Tsunade looked like.
Meanwhile, Natasha, who was in Wakanda, also received a message from Hill. The commotion in America was so big, they couldn't possibly not have noticed. Even though all of SHIELD's powers had been revoked, Hill was still a senior agent, one close to the director.
"Steve, I think you need to see this."
Natasha came to Steve's side and handed him the video data Hill had sent. It had been compiled, clearly showing the Ten-Tails armor taking off from Future Corporation's mechanical factories and then flying toward one location.
Following that were locations of known Ten-Tails armor pieces marked by Hill, almost all the original Stark Industries weapons manufacturing factories. Therefore, Hill deduced that these unknown metal flying objects were all produced by the former Stark weapons factories, but their function was unknown, quantity unknown, and purpose unknown.
"Your Majesty, I hope you can take a look at this."
T'Chaka, the current king of Wakanda, took the microcomputer from Steve's hand and looked at its contents.
HYDRA had been discovered early, and T'Chaka had not been bombed by Bucky. So he was still the king of Wakanda. However, he was already preparing to abdicate and pass the succession to his son.
But Steve had suddenly come to him. Because they had had a few exchanges with SHIELD, T'Chaka received Steve. However, before they could say much, Natasha stepped aside to receive Hill's message. This behavior, in the eyes of Wakanda's Dora Milaje, was very rude.
But T'Chaka didn't mind, and they didn't speak up.
"What is this?"
After looking, T'Chaka handed the microcomputer to the Dora Milaje beside him, telling them to check the information.
Wakanda's technological level was even more advanced than SHIELD's. Relying on vibranium, they had developed into the most powerful technological civilization on Earth, but their minds hadn't kept up with evolution.
Possessing one of the top military forces on Earth, they ended up choosing to engage Thanos's army in close combat, and Thanos's army also chose close combat.
"Regarding your request, I need to think it over some more. Fury doesn't seem like someone who can be easily controlled. I've spoken with him; he is an excellent intelligence agent."
T'Chaka said to Steve. The implication was that he thought Nick Fury was doing this deliberately, and he didn't want Wakanda to casually interfere in other countries' affairs, especially SHIELD's.
One slip-up would expose Wakanda's strength to the whole world.
Although Steve was somewhat anxious, he still calmly persuaded, "Your Majesty, if you understand the other side's strength and threat, you wouldn't stand idly by. Given Wakanda's allure, being targeted by them is only a matter of time. Perhaps even now..."
Before he finished, Steve stopped on his own, because he saw the Dora Milaje walking back with solemn expressions. They returned the device to Natasha, then prepared to lean in to whisper to T'Chaka.
But T'Chaka waved his hand and said, "Just say it directly. They brought these matters here."
The captain of the Dora Milaje nodded, then tapped on her wristband. A video projection immediately appeared in front of her.
Then, all the Ten-Tails armor pieces they had gathered appeared. As she slid the virtual screen, the captain said, "Based on the intelligence gathered, this looks like a modular armor that can be assembled. It contains an enormous amount of energy. The explosion of just one piece would be enough to destroy a US state."
"The information we have gathered is not comprehensive. However, based on the armor modules collected so far, the assembled form should look like this."
The captain of the Dora Milaje stepped aside, showing the successfully assembled Ten-Tails armor to T'Chaka, T'Challa, Steve, and Natasha.
Ten huge tails, somewhat humanoid in shape, and somewhat terrifying in appearance after assembly.
"This is the Statue of Liberty in America. If I'm not mistaken, the one wearing this armor should be over a thousand meters tall."
The captain of the Dora Milaje called up the Statue of Liberty, instantly creating a stark contrast. Before the Ten-Tails, the Statue of Liberty looked as fragile as a small seedling.
(End of chapter)