Birnin Zana.
As Wakanda's capital and its most developed city, Birnin Zana was protected by the Wakandans so thoroughly that it could be called impregnable.
With an energy shield covering the entire city, combined with far-reaching optical cloaking technology, there were precious few people on Earth who could even detect the place at all. And as for forces with the means and power to break through its defenses, there were almost none.
But today, after who knew how many years, shrill alarms once again rang across the skies over Birnin Zana.
"What's going on? What's happening?"
"Looks like foreign enemies are attacking from the border. They're flying through the air straight toward the capital."
"What kind of enemy would dare attack Wakanda?"
"No idea…"
Perhaps it was because peace had lasted too long. Too many years of stability, combined with vibranium and technology far beyond the rest of Earth's era, had caused ordinary Wakandan civilians to lose all sense of crisis.
As fighter craft scrambled into the air, most of them did not choose to hide. Instead, relying on the existence of the energy shield, they calmly stood around to watch the excitement.
At the same time, in Wakanda's royal palace, inside the council chamber.
Wakanda's upper leadership had all gathered. Even Prince T'Challa, who had been in the prison interrogating those vibranium smugglers, had been urgently called over and now sat to one side, quietly preparing to listen in.
Taking advantage of the time before the council formally began, King T'Chaka turned his gaze toward T'Challa, who sat quietly nearby. "My son, did your interrogation produce anything?"
"No, Father."
The young T'Challa shook his head and briefly summarized the intelligence he had obtained. "This time, we captured two groups in total. One of them was already a seasoned vibranium smuggling crew. Those people were easy to interrogate. We barely had to do anything before they started turning on each other and spilling everything themselves."
"Well done, my son." T'Chaka nodded in satisfaction. "What about the other group?"
"It wasn't a group. It was only one man."
At the mention of that person, T'Challa frowned, then hesitated before continuing. "According to information from our intelligence agency, PRIDE, he isn't actually a vibranium smuggler. He's just one link in a hidden vibranium smuggling chain. But the information is questionable, and we have no way to verify whether it's true."
"No matter how you look at him, he seems like an ordinary man. But someone implanted a chip in his brain, and it makes him nearly immune to any interrogation method. Hypnosis and drugs are useless on him."
"Can't the chip be removed?" T'Chaka asked.
"If we remove it, the man is finished. He might not even survive the attempt. The implantation method was crude, but somehow it's still impossible to solve."
T'Challa let out a sigh. "To be honest, the moment he was captured, he should already have died. If we hadn't saved him, he never would have lived this long."
"Father, this man is a major problem. If necessary, we should just get rid of him."
"Wait until I…"
Faced with his son's suggestion, T'Chaka hesitated. He was about to say more when the meeting preparations finished.
Father and son both turned serious at once.
"Silence!"
T'Chaka shed the gentle image he wore in front of his son. In an instant, his whole presence sharpened. The aura of both king and Black Panther spread from him, and the vast council chamber fell into complete silence.
"Is the Border Tribe chief present? Explain exactly what has happened."
"I'm here."
A tall, powerfully built Black man stepped forward from one side. He reached into his pouch and tossed out three beads. In the next instant, a clear image was projected from them.
"Five minutes ago, unusual spatial energy fluctuations suddenly appeared in the skies above Wakanda's border."
"Immediately afterward, four unidentified individuals suddenly appeared in the air over the border and began flying nonstop toward our capital."
The image shifted, and everyone in the chamber instinctively turned toward the projection.
Above the peaceful grasslands, a huge yellow energy gate suddenly opened without warning. Then four people appeared out of thin air from beyond the gate.
The one in front stood tall and strikingly handsome. The other three were distinctive in their own ways as well.
After briefly getting his bearings, the leader pointed directly toward Wakanda's capital. The four of them then blurred and shot through the air toward the city at astonishing speed.
"Flying at that speed without relying on any equipment…"
That sight immediately set off a round of discussion throughout the chamber, with people whispering among themselves. "Could they be those superpowered humans from the outside world?"
"Mutants? Inhumans? Or some other kind of superhuman?"
"What are they doing in Wakanda?"
"Silence!"
T'Chaka barked the order with a frown, then turned to the Border Tribe chief. "You didn't try to stop them?"
"…"
After glancing at T'Chaka, the Border Tribe chief gave a troubled shake of his head and explained, "With the Border Tribe's strength, there is simply no way for us to deal with these people."
"How is that possible?"
T'Chaka's voice rose sharply, and his displeasure became obvious.
"Your Majesty, after our investigation, we've already identified several of them."
Faced with T'Chaka's challenge, the chief bitterly froze the image on the faces of the four intruders. "Your Majesty, with these two here, what exactly was the Border Tribe supposed to do?"
One was an elderly man in a helmet, his face full of arrogance.
The other sat quietly in a wheelchair, looking gentle and kind, with a bald head that stood out sharply in the sunlight.
"The two poles of mutantkind. Professor X and Magneto?"
The moment he recognized them, T'Chaka shot to his feet from the throne. "Why would they come to Wakanda of all places?"
"Hear my orders. Raise the alert to level one. Increase the energy shield's defensive output to maximum. Order all personnel and all aircraft not to leave the shield by a single step!"
"Activate every magnetic distortion device around the capital. Set their output to maximum as well."
"They came prepared, and they most likely mean trouble. Everyone arm yourselves and prepare to face the enemy with me!"
A rapid string of orders poured from T'Chaka's mouth.
At this moment, his expression was graver than ever before.
It was as if those two men were more terrifying than all the other forces on Earth combined. Faced with these two powerful mutants whose reputations were known worldwide, no one present raised any objection. They simply obeyed the king's commands in silence.
At the same time, in the skies above Birnin Zana, Wakanda's capital.
Fenris hovered nearly three hundred feet in the air, luminous wings spread behind him, gently beating as he stood motionless above the city.
At his side, Magneto floated in the air with Professor X and Cyclops.
None of them made any effort to hide themselves. They completely ignored Wakanda's air defense systems and openly stood above the nation's capital, looking down from the sky.
"Fenris, just as you said, this Wakanda is anything but simple."
Flying all the way here from the border, Wakanda's land had looked peaceful and tranquil on the surface. But in truth, Magneto had already sensed the faint aura of hidden danger beneath it all.
Even the mountain forest directly below them looked ordinary at first glance. But with the slightest effort of perception, Magneto could detect the enticing scent of hidden metal buried within it.
"Trusting Fenris really was the right call."
Scott, beside him, looked full of amazement, equally impressed by Fenris's sharp instincts.
Without him, how hard would it have been for them to set their sights on Wakanda? More than ten times harder would not even begin to cover it.
"Just luck."
Fenris lowered his eyes and looked down at the mountain forest below.
"Our guests have already reached the doorstep, and you're still hiding behind tricks. Is this Wakanda's idea of hospitality?"
A booming voice rang out at once, passing straight through the energy shield the Wakandans were so proud of and into the ears of every single person in the capital.
"Are they… gods?"
On the ground, countless Wakandans craned their heads upward and stared at Fenris in the sky.
His enormous, dazzling wings shone brilliantly, and the golden sunlight poured down over him, outlining him in radiant gold.
In the instant after his voice spread, under the gaze of hundreds of thousands of people, the light around Fenris suddenly blazed even brighter.
Without the slightest pause, brilliant radiance erupted. It transformed into a powerful shockwave and slammed fiercely into the energy shield.
Boom!
A thunderous impact echoed out. Under the force of the blow, the energy shield trembled violently. Ripples spread across its surface in layers, and its optical cloaking effect was immediately dispelled.
A vast futuristic city gradually unfolded before Fenris and the others.
Even though the three beside him had been mentally prepared, the sight was still enough to leave them utterly stunned.
Fenris had been right.
"King of Wakanda, we need to talk."
Fenris's expression did not change. He ignored the dense ranks of aircraft on the other side of the shield, as if they were nothing more than insignificant toys.
His gaze went straight to the plaza before the royal palace.
There, a powerfully built man in a Black Panther suit lifted his head and met Fenris's eyes directly.
(End of Chapter)
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