In the heart of Birnin Zana, inside the Wakandan royal palace.
Within the vast council hall, the leaders of every Wakandan tribe had gathered in short order. Even the members of the council had all assembled, a rare sight in itself.
But it was as if they had all agreed beforehand. Every one of them sat there in total silence, eyes lowered, faces composed, even their breathing unusually careful and restrained.
"Honored guests, please, take the seats of honor."
King T'Chaka sat high upon the throne, though half his body seemed ready to spring off it at any moment. On his dark face was a stiff smile he had not worn in a very long time.
At the most honored seats in Wakanda's order of hospitality, Professor X sat in front with Scott beside him.
Fenris and Magneto, meanwhile, were whispering to each other under the watchful gaze of the entire chamber, acting as though no one else were present.
"Your Majesty, King of Wakanda, we are deeply honored by such generous courtesy from your nation."
Faced with T'Chaka's reception, Professor X inclined his head slightly. There was not the slightest trace left of the domineering figure who had, only moments ago, dismantled an entire nation's military power single-handedly.
His words were gentle and courteous, and every gesture carried the elegance and polish of an old North American gentleman of standing.
"On behalf of the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants, we extend our greetings to King T'Chaka and to all of Wakanda."
"We wish your nation ever greater prosperity, and your people better and better lives."
"Thank you for your blessing, Professor Xavier."
No matter what else might be said, T'Chaka had ruled as king for decades. He forced out a smile that was at least reasonably proper. "And I likewise wish the mutant people greater prosperity in the years to come."
The memory of what had just happened still left lingering fear in his heart. Wakanda's vaunted technology had proven almost meaningless before this mild-looking man.
If the man had wanted to, he could have quietly made off with everything Wakanda had built over generations and turned it all into assets for mutantkind.
"T'Challa, go serve tea to our honored guests. The fragrant tea."
T'Chaka turned and instructed his son, "Bring out Wakanda's finest tea leaves and serve our distinguished guests properly."
"Yes, Father."
At one side, T'Challa rose obediently, picked up a teapot that had already been prepared, and stepped forward. His every movement was impeccably proper.
At the same time, he could not help secretly studying these powerful mutants who could overturn Wakanda with a wave of the hand. His eyes were full of curiosity and awe.
Wakanda was not invincible. The outside world truly was more exciting than he had imagined, but also far more dangerous.
"Thank you."
Fenris lifted the tea and took a light sip. The rich aroma rolled across his tongue, and he could not help glancing at T'Challa, the future Black Panther.
A few years from now, the current king, T'Chaka, would be killed in a bombing at the Sokovia Accords conference, orchestrated by Baron Zemo.
And T'Challa, forced to inherit the throne earlier than expected, would personally take action when Tony Stark and Steve Rogers turned against each other, eventually capturing Zemo alive.
The only pity was that this exceptional king, one who believed in openness and exchange, would later die young of illness not long after the Wakandan turmoil set off by Killmonger.
Looking at T'Challa's still youthful face, Fenris slowly withdrew his gaze.
As time passed, the Titan Index's resonance was gradually shifting from vague to clear.
If Wakanda truly could help push his strength to a higher level, then helping Wakanda save a wise ruler in return might not be a bad trade at all.
"Please, enjoy."
T'Challa's eyes lingered on Fenris for a moment. This young man, who looked even younger than he did, had displayed astonishing power just moments before.
"Professor Xavier, as king, I now do believe that you came with genuine goodwill."
After the formal courtesies were complete, T'Chaka spoke again and finally steered the conversation back to its true subject.
"However, as Mr. Lensherr stated, Wakanda captured two people today who are very important to you…"
T'Chaka paused deliberately. Only after all eyes were on him did he continue. "I do not quite understand what you mean."
"Your Majesty, I know very well how much vibranium means to Wakanda. I also understand your desire to protect yourselves by keeping Wakanda hidden from the eyes of the world…"
Charles had spent a lifetime dealing with people who said one thing and meant another, especially men like T'Chaka, politicians long accustomed to power, the sort who never turn back until they hit a wall headfirst.
Now that it seemed there was no immediate hostility, and that communication was possible, T'Chaka had once again put on the posture of a king, as if everything that had happened before could simply be brushed aside.
When someone shows mercy, others take advantage. That ugly instinct in human nature showed itself most clearly in politicians.
After unleashing his power so openly earlier, and with mutantkind's crisis hanging over him, Charles seemed to have opened some kind of Pandora's box. He simply spoke without ceremony and tore away Wakanda's last veil.
"You know perfectly well who we are asking for, and you know exactly where they are. Earlier today, you even had your son T'Challa interrogate them personally."
"T'Chaka, they are only a few people. They are not worth more than Wakanda's thousands of years of history. Letting a little vibranium leak into the outside world will not stop Wakanda from continuing its hidden life."
"Hand them over to us, and Wakanda will remain the same Wakanda it was before."
The moment Charles finished speaking, the entire council chamber fell deathly silent.
Not only Fenris, Magneto, and Scott behind Professor X, but even Wakanda's own leadership held their breath in unison.
A threat. A naked, unmistakable threat.
The meaning beneath those words was simple.
Hand them over, and everyone walks away satisfied, with no harm done.
But if they refused...
Then what had happened earlier would be their fate.
If he could dismantle Wakanda's military so easily, then naturally he could dismantle Wakanda itself.
Most of the time, Charles preferred to leave both sides with their dignity intact. But when mutantkind's survival was at stake, if someone refused to behave with dignity, then he would simply help them find it.
"The Professor is especially imposing today."
Feeling the frozen atmosphere around them and the fear in everyone's eyes, Scott drew himself up proudly, lifted his chin, and could not stop the smug curve that touched his mouth.
"I think I prefer Charles like this."
Magneto clicked his tongue softly. Professor X had shocked him far too many times today. At this point, he seemed almost like a stranger, to the extent that Magneto could hardly believe this was really his old friend.
"…"
"So Wakanda really has no secrets in front of him?"
On the other side, Charles's words made T'Chaka's heart skip a beat. "He even knows that much?"
And was Professor X not supposed to be famous for kindness and restraint?
Why did the man before him look so completely different from the rumors?
"Hahahaha!"
"A misunderstanding. Truly, just a misunderstanding!"
T'Chaka sat silent for a long moment, then suddenly threw back his head and laughed, the loud hearty sound shattering the near-total stillness in the chamber in an instant.
"Professor Xavier, please do not take offense. I really did simply fail to remember just now."
T'Chaka slapped the armrest of his throne as though troubled by his own forgetfulness and sighed. "I deal with far too many matters every day. But now, I believe I understand exactly who you are asking for."
"You are right. We did capture several vibranium smugglers. As vibranium is the foundation of Wakanda, these people acted with outrageous audacity, smuggling it without permission. By all rights, I should punish them severely…"
"But compared to the precious friendship between us, what do those people amount to?"
"Nothing worth mentioning. Absolutely nothing."
T'Chaka chuckled. Fortunately, because of his skin tone, the folds forced into his face did not look quite as obvious as they might have otherwise.
He gave his son beside him a pat and ordered, "T'Challa, bring those people to our friends. Not one of them is to be left behind."
"Father, should I bring the unidentified man as well?"
T'Challa leaned close to T'Chaka's ear and asked in a low voice.
"Of course. Can't you tell? That one is the person they actually want."
Faced with his son's question, T'Chaka gritted his teeth and tried to communicate entirely through his eyes and brows. "That man is a hot coal anyway. If they want him, let them have him."
"We still can't deal with that chip in the short term. These mutants know nothing. How could they possibly handle it?"
"In the end, won't they still have to come back and beg us for help?"
"Yes, Father."
T'Challa's eyes lit up at once. His admiration for his father's cunning only grew stronger.
As expected of the current Black Panther. Wise and brave, able to think so far ahead in such a short time.
"…"
Not far away, Fenris caught the silent exchange between father and son and felt his eye twitch despite himself.
Was the king of the most technologically advanced nation on Earth truly unaware of what he was doing?
Professor X and Magneto beside him looked equally complicated in expression.
Only Scott seemed completely oblivious, still holding his chin high with unconcealed pride on his face.
"Father, I'll go at once."
On the other side, T'Challa, having understood the signal in his father's eyes, pounded his chest firmly.
"Do not waste our guests' time. Go quickly!"
T'Chaka frowned and urged him on loudly.
As soon as the order was given, murmurs began to spread throughout the chamber.
Wakanda's other high-ranking figures did not know what T'Chaka was thinking. Many of them did not even know the details of the interrogation.
All they knew was that under T'Chaka's rule, Wakanda had spent decades ruthlessly cracking down on vibranium smuggling, and almost no smuggler who fell into his hands ever met a good end.
Yet this time he had chosen to hand them over so easily, directly violating the principle he had always upheld.
The surrender of a hardline ruler did not represent only T'Chaka's personal concession. It represented Wakanda itself yielding ground.
Yet at this moment, with so many people present, all of them hesitated and stammered inwardly, and not one dared speak. Much less step forward to oppose it.
As one, they chose silence, then sat and watched as T'Challa walked out of the chamber step by step to fetch the prisoners himself.
"That's it?"
Magneto sat to one side, taking in the many different expressions around him in a single glance.
He curled his lip in disdain and lightly nudged Fenris, who still had his eyes closed in concentration. "This is the powerful country you were talking about?"
"The country that supposedly needed the entire X-Men and Brotherhood on standby, the one that could drag us into a brutal battle?"
"I thought they'd have a little more spine than this."
Magneto said it cheerfully, making no effort at all to lower his voice. In the council chamber, the mockery sounded especially harsh.
The cutting ridicule reached everyone's ears, but T'Chaka and the others acted as though they had heard nothing at all. While T'Challa went to fetch the prisoners, they continued exchanging polite conversation with Professor X as if everything were perfectly normal.
The atmosphere was peaceful, almost absurdly so.
"I didn't expect the Professor to be willing to act like this either. Besides, no matter how powerful a nation is, it's still run by people, isn't it?"
Fenris spread his hands. "And unless they're facing something like the Sentinels, specifically designed to counter the Professor, his abilities are obviously more effective in a situation like this than ours."
"True enough."
Magneto nodded in strong agreement.
There was no need for Fenris to say anything else in a setting like this. Once Magneto quieted down, Fenris simply sat where he was and continued extending his perception outward again and again.
"Found it!"
After waiting this long, the resonance from the Titan Index suddenly sharpened in his mind without the slightest warning.
"So sitting here this long wasn't for nothing…"
The instant he sensed the change, Fenris's spirits leapt.
His eyes closed again, and he clearly felt the fatal pull rising from beneath the Wakandan royal palace.
"You found it?"
Magneto immediately noticed the shift in Fenris. "I meant what I said before. We go together."
"Mm."
Fenris opened his eyes. The delight in them was almost impossible to hide. But after a moment's thought, he still turned to Magneto and said, "You should stay. I'll feel better with you here protecting the Professor."
"Fair enough."
Magneto hesitated briefly, then nodded.
Charles did not truly have combat power of his own. If anything went wrong here, it would indeed be safer if Magneto remained.
"Fenris, you're leaving?"
Hearing that Fenris intended to step away before the meeting was over, Scott's ears twitched and he turned at once to ask.
"Yes."
Fenris nodded and rose to his feet.
"Is it dangerous?" Scott glanced back at T'Chaka and the others, then asked with real concern, "Do you need my help?"
"If you're worried about me, just say that."
Amused, Fenris tugged Scott up with him, then turned to address the Professor. "Professor, we've got something to take care of. We're stepping out for a bit. I'll leave things here to you and Magneto."
"All right."
Professor X nodded without hesitation.
"Fenris, I'll be watching you the whole time."
Magneto remained seated as steady as a mountain, but a tiny thread of sound slipped directly from his lips into Fenris's ears alone. "If you run into trouble, call for me immediately."
As he spoke, another powerful wave spread silently in every direction. In no time at all, the entire city had once again fallen under his control without a sound.
Magneto's voice was so secretive that even Scott, standing right beside them, noticed nothing.
"No problem."
Fenris replied just as quietly, while giving Magneto a slightly surprised glance.
Looks like all that reading hadn't gone to waste. He could even use magnetism to transmit sound now.
(End of Chapter)
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