"Lower the shield…"
Inside Wakanda's central control center, the eyes of the highest-ranking military officer instantly turned vacant.
He slowly walked to the control console. After completing a series of complex verifications, he connected to T'Chaka's communications channel.
"Your Majesty, request permission to lower the energy shield."
"Permission granted."
T'Chaka's voice came through the communicator.
Very soon, a long string of complicated commands was issued and entered into the control center.
Bzzzzz-
A series of low hums rose from beneath Birnin Zana. In the next moment, the blue energy shield began flashing rapidly, pulsing with high-frequency blue light before the glow finally went dark.
For the first time in untold years, the energy shield that had protected Wakanda's capital slowly dispersed.
The barrier standing before Fenris and the others dimmed little by little, then vanished completely.
"All soldiers, stand down. Lower your weapons."
"To all citizens, return home. This is only a joint exercise. Your king has seen your fighting spirit and your determination to resist."
"Wakanda is proud of you!"
Wave after wave of psychic force radiated outward from Professor X, spreading endlessly into the surrounding area.
Immediately afterward, all the aircraft around them almost simultaneously retracted their mounted weapons, turned in perfect unison, and flew straight back toward their military bases.
On the ground, every warrior gripping a weapon suddenly showed a flicker of confusion on their face, only for it to be replaced by a deeply satisfied smile.
They marched away in orderly formation and returned to their barracks as well.
The people of the capital, who had just moments ago been burning with righteous anger, now seemed as though they had been granted some supreme honor. They all puffed out their chests with pride and began dispersing in twos and threes like a receding tide.
Very soon, everything in Birnin Zana returned to normal, as if Fenris and the others had never come at all.
One second earlier, the whole city had been united in resisting a foreign enemy.
The next second, the bustling capital looked as lively and prosperous as ever.
"Charles, you…"
Magneto stared in open shock as King T'Chaka, who had just been ready to lead his people in a desperate stand against them, personally gave the order to disarm, while the rest of Wakanda's leadership stood there in a daze as though they all accepted it by default.
Everything that had just happened felt like an illusion.
The four of them were still standing there high in the sky, while everyone below acted as though they could not see them at all.
Aside from the Royal Guard inside Wakanda's palace, who still maintained a vigilant posture, no one knew that only a second ago their king had been preparing to make a last stand against a terrifying enemy.
"Erik, I told you. You were being a little too extreme."
Professor X slowly withdrew his psychic power. "We're only here to get a person back. There's no need to cause unnecessary casualties, much less start a life-and-death war with a country this advanced."
"If I hadn't stopped things, were you planning to flip this entire city upside down?"
"See? Isn't this much better?"
"…"
Magneto stared at Professor X in disbelief. Charles's expression was calm, almost harmless, and for the first time in his life Magneto felt like he had never truly understood this old friend of his.
"If you could do this all along, then why the hell did we bother making such a huge show of coming here and announcing ourselves?"
Magneto finally unclenched his fist and released his control over the magnetic fields across all of Wakanda.
For all these years, he had long since accepted Charles's rigidity and stubbornness as a given. Yet when mutantkind truly faced a crisis, Charles was apparently capable of doing things with even fewer scruples than he was.
Influencing hundreds of thousands of people in an instant and effortlessly collapsing the defenses of a powerful nation like Wakanda, all without even using Cerebro.
"Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures. But I will not help you fight humanity."
Professor X could tell at a glance what Magneto was thinking. "Mutants and humans must coexist for mutual benefit. That is the bottom line."
"I'm never trusting your so-called bottom line again, Charles."
Magneto gave Professor X a long look. "Humanity should count itself lucky you're not me."
"That is precisely the difference between us."
Professor X spoke calmly. "Come on. Let's go have a proper talk with this brave king."
"Tch."
Magneto clicked his tongue and slowly lowered himself and Scott down from the air.
As for Fenris, he had left the sky the moment the shield came down.
In the short time the two old friends had been talking, he had already inspected the entire Wakandan palace from top to bottom.
"Strange. The Titan Index hasn't reacted in ages, but now it's stirring again…"
The moment Wakanda's energy shield vanished, Fenris felt a tremor in his chest. Deep within his consciousness, the Titan Index quivered faintly, and a mysterious sense of resonance began emanating from somewhere beneath the Wakandan palace.
Unlike the clear guidance Mothra had given him last time, this sensation was far vaguer and far weaker.
"Maybe it's because of the distance…"
Fenris quickly formed a guess. "Or maybe this Titan just isn't as powerful as Mothra was."
"Beneath the Wakandan palace."
Fenris closed his eyes, sending out the special life-sense of a Titan beast down into the earth below.
"That's Wakanda's research center, and…"
A massive meteorite, glowing with a soft and lustrous radiance, suddenly entered Fenris's perception. His eyes snapped open at once.
"Vibranium!"
"What Titan's power would have anything to do with vibranium?"
"Fenris, stop spacing out. Get over here."
In the distance, Magneto's voice snapped Fenris out of his thoughts.
Seeing that Professor X and the other two had already arrived in front of the palace, Fenris hesitated for a moment. Then his figure flashed, and he reappeared beside Magneto.
"What? Did you find something?"
Magneto asked curiously.
After the last few operations, his trust in Fenris had already reached its peak.
Whether it was Fenris's fighting power or his powers of perception, both had filled Magneto with admiration and relief.
"It has nothing to do with the Sentinels. It's just a kind of instinct I have."
Thinking about the faint connection between this new perception and vibranium, Fenris decided Magneto might be able to help. So he spoke plainly. "If my instincts are right, then something here in Wakanda should be able to make me a little stronger."
"Oh?"
As expected, the moment Magneto heard that, his spirits lifted at once. "You're already this strong, and you can still get stronger?"
"You can get stronger just by reading a book. Why can't I?"
Fenris curled his lip.
"Once Charles starts negotiating with them, I'll come with you."
Magneto lowered his voice as he spoke.
The stronger Fenris became, the easier their fight against the Sentinels would be.
"Right now, in this whole city, other than Charles, I'm the one who knows this place best. I guarantee we can move around inside however we like and never get caught."
Magneto thumped his own chest. "Trust me."
"Good."
Fenris's eyes lit up. That was exactly what he had been waiting to hear.
(End of Chapter)
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