After a disastrous capture operation, the Avengers retreated to a temporary camp where Stark's private jet had landed. The air was so humid it felt like it could be wrung out like a wet cloth. A campfire crackled between the four of them, its flickering light reflecting the varying expressions on each of their faces.
"So, what now?" Tony Stark was the first to speak. He poked at the fire irritably with a branch, the frustration in his voice impossible to suppress. "We're basically half-blind in this godforsaken place. The 'big cat' we're trying to catch can use mental attacks, and there's a bunch of fanatical cultists who worship it like a god and will fight us to the death if we can't talk sense into them. We can't exactly just knock them all out, can we?"
He looked up at the solemn Steve. "Captain, your humanitarian principles are only going to get in the way right now."
"They are civilians, Tony." Steve's voice was steady, but everyone could hear his persistence. "They aren't enemies; they're just being misled. We cannot raise our hands against the innocent. That is a bottom line we can never cross."
"Then what do you suggest?" Tony spread his hands in exasperation. "Don't forget, Lin said that thing is a source of pollution. Every minute we waste here, the risk increases."
"That's still no reason for us to attack civilians." Steve didn't back down an inch, his blue eyes filled with a soldier's stubbornness.
"Perhaps we can approach the problem from a different angle." Dr. Bruce Banner, who had been silent until now, adjusted his glasses and gently intervened in the argument. "That Black Panther's illusion abilities are clearly the root of the tribe's faith. If we can analyze those illusions or find a way to counter them, we might be able to dismantle their belief."
"Good thinking, Dr. Banner." Lin Huai nodded in agreement.
"What kind of divination ritual are you planning now?" Tony looked at him suspiciously.
Lin Huai was just about to reveal his plan when the smile on his face suddenly froze.
At almost the same time, Steve seemed to sense something as well. He snatched up his shield and stood up, positioning himself in front of the others.
The entire jungle suddenly became eerily quiet.
The incessant chirping of insects and roars of beasts from a moment ago seemed to have their power cut off. There was a dead silence, leaving only the crackling of the campfire, which sounded particularly jarring.
An invisible and creepy killing intent seeped out from the shadows in all directions.
"We're surrounded," Steve whispered, his muscles tensing instantly as he entered a combat stance.
Before he could finish, a dozen female guards wearing bright red skin-tight armor and holding metal spears over two meters long emerged from the Darkness like ghosts, without making a sound. Each of them had a shaved head and wore rings of metal around their necks. Their eyes were cold and sharp, like top-tier Hunters.
Their movements were perfectly synchronized, every step following the same rhythm. Finally, they formed a perfect perimeter, locking the Avengers firmly in the center.
Leading them was a stern-faced Black man with eyes like a hawk. He didn't wear the same armor as the female guards, but instead wore a well-tailored long black garment. However, his steady aura made it clear that he was the one in charge.
Tony looked at the luster shimmering on the female guards' spears—it was exactly the same as Steve's shield. He then looked at their futuristic red armor, and for the first time, a look of pure shock appeared on his face.
"Who... are these people? Are those spears made of Vibranium?" he asked in a low voice over the team channel, his tone full of disbelief.
"Who are you? Why have you intruded into Wakanda?" the leading man spoke. His English was standard and fluent without a trace of an accent, but his voice was deep and powerful, carrying an authority that brooked no argument.
After a brief exchange of glances, Tony decided to test the waters.
The portable armor on his arm quickly covered his entire body. Before the other party could react, he fired a repulsor blast toward the leading man's feet as a warning.
"Hey! Listen, we're not interested in your tribal campfire party; we're just here to catch a cat. Now, move aside!"
However, his proudest armor suffered another setback.
The two red-armored female guards closest to the man reacted with frightening speed. They stepped across each other, their Vibranium spears blurring in front of them as they precisely blocked the beam.
The expected explosion never happened. The Vibranium spear tips eerily absorbed most of the energy, only vibrating slightly. Immediately after, the two female guards used the momentum to spin, actually turning the remaining energy—along with the spears themselves—into two deadly whirlwinds that slashed back at Tony's flanks!
"Damn it!" Tony cursed under his breath and immediately flew into the air to dodge.
The conflict erupted just like that.
Tony tangled with several red-armored female guards in the air. He was quickly bewildered, finding that the spears in their hands could not only absorb energy for attacks, but the users had also mastered martial arts to their very core. Every strike was precise and swift, filled with a primal sense of power that anticipated all his flight maneuvers. For the first time in close-quarters combat, his mark armor felt the taste of being suppressed.
On the other side, Steve was also fighting two female guards. He didn't attack proactively, only using his shield to block the storm-like spear thrusts, his mind reeling. The strength, speed, and reaction time of these female Warriors were nearly at the human limit—some were even stronger than him, a recipient of the Super Soldier Serum!
"Stop, Okoye." Just as the battle reached a stalemate, the leading Black man—T'Challa—finally spoke.
With that single command, all the red-armored female guards seemed to have been paused. They instantly withdrew their moves and retreated, standing back in that airtight perimeter as if the brief, intense conflict had never happened.
"I will say it once more," T'Challa's gaze was oppressive as he scanned the tense Avengers one by one, finally fixing on the only one who remained relatively calm, Lin Huai. "Who are you? Why are you stirring up trouble on my land?"
Faced with the questioning, Lin Huai knew it was his turn.
He took a step forward proactively, showing no fear. Instead, he wore a mysterious, compassionate smile that suggested he saw through everything.
"Prince of Wakanda, heir to the Black Panther, we have not come with malice."
His first sentence caused T'Challa's pupils to contract sharply.
"I can see the threads of fate, Your Highness," Lin Huai ignored the other's shock and continued in the rhythmic tone typical of a charlatan. "In my divination, I saw a great kingdom hidden behind the mountains, protected by Vibranium, with technology far beyond the mortal World. I also saw a sacred beast that was supposed to inherit the power of the 'panther god,' but at the crossroads of fate, it was polluted by a chaotic and disorderly evil rule that does not belong to this World."
He looked up, staring directly into T'Challa's now incredibly solemn eyes, and dropped his final "prophecy."
"That power is no ordinary disease or curse. It comes from a place further than the stars. The madness of that panther is only the beginning. If this source of pollution isn't completely uprooted, no one can predict what this place will become."
The air seemed to solidify.
T'Challa's mind was in a complete mess!
This outsider not only knew the secrets of Wakanda, knew about Vibranium, and knew the lineage of the "Black Panther," but he was even clear about the faith in the panther god! What scared him most was that the "prophecy" the man spoke matched his own deepest concerns perfectly!
That Black Panther had been a companion he grew up with. But a few months ago, it went mad without warning, becoming bloodthirsty and even attacking the citizens on the border. T'Challa had tried several times to capture it, but each time, it easily escaped using that eerie ability to create hallucinations. He could never figure out what had turned a sentient companion into this "stain" that he had to deal with personally.
Now, this mysterious Easterner had given him an answer he couldn't refute, yet found hard to believe—pollution from outside the World.
After a brief silence, T'Challa made his decision.
"I believe you, for now." He looked at Lin Huai, his gaze incredibly complex. "But if there is anything suspicious about you, you will understand what the wrath of Wakanda means."
Having said that, he turned around and gave a command in Xhosa to the air behind him.
In the next second, under Tony Stark's wide-eyed gaze, the dense jungle in front of them began to fade and distort in a way that defied physics, like a computer effect being fast-forwarded, until it finally vanished.
A magnificent city filled with futuristic technology, hidden behind the mountains, appeared abruptly before everyone's eyes!
A massive silver dome covered the entire city like the sky. Strange-looking maglev vehicles flew quietly between the rows of skyscrapers. In the distance, beneath a great waterfall, ancient architecture and advanced technology blended perfectly, creating a unique beauty that took one's breath away.
"Birnin Zana," T'Challa's voice carried a hint of pride he couldn't hide. "Welcome to... the real Wakanda."
Tony Stark was completely dumbfounded. He stared blankly at this miraculous city, which was more exaggeratedly advanced than any "future city" concept he had ever envisioned, feeling his worldview being smashed to pieces.
"Tony," Lin Huai walked up to his side and nudged him gently with his elbow, a smile on his face as if he were enjoying the show.
"Regarding that bet... I foresee that the moment Tony meets the real 'Tony' is drawing closer."