Chapter 183: Symbiote
T'Chaka chuckled at his son's words.
Weren't you just introducing yourself?
He didn't dwell on the minor details, though. After glaring at T'Challa to remind him not to speak carelessly, he turned to Norman.
"Director Osborn, thank you very much for helping Wakanda apprehend the criminal Ulysses Klaue."
"Wakanda is a poor, nomadic nation in Africa, and we have nothing to offer in thanks..."
He wore a look of guilt.
At this moment, Norman said, "Mr. T'Chaka, let's speak frankly."
He didn't want to waste time haggling with T'Chaka. Every day that passed brought the Chitauri army closer to Earth, and the situation was urgent.
Norman continued, "Wakanda is not, as you say, nor as the rest of the world imagines, a nation too poor to be worth enslaving, is it?"
Upon hearing this, both T'Challa and T'Chaka's expressions changed.
They grew serious, their gazes towards Norman darkening slightly.
"Relax, Mr. T'Chaka. Put away your claws. This is H.A.M.M.E.R. headquarters. Even if you are the Black Panther, you cannot take on all of H.A.M.M.E.R."
Norman's words were polite, considering.
After all, Ben was present.
He could subdue T'Chaka with one hand, unless the old king could summon the true Black Panther.
Not a Super Hero, but a totem.
"Did Ulysses Klaue tell you?"
T'Chaka calmed down a bit, realizing that since H.A.M.M.E.R. had captured Ulysses and contacted him through him, they might have learned some information from that despicable man.
"I don't know what he told you, but not everything he says might be true."
He didn't know how much H.A.M.M.E.R. knew, so he had to be careful with his words.
Norman shook his head at this.
Clearly, T'Chaka wasn't about to reveal his nation's secrets with just a few words.
At this point, Ben interjected, "We've known about Wakanda for a long time, and we know you possess abundant Vibranium mines and advanced technology. However, you've always isolated yourselves to protect the secret of Vibranium."
Ben's words made the old king's expression turn grim.
He felt as though his secrets had just been laid bare.
"So—you want Vibranium too?"
That was an obvious question.
Setting aside Vibranium, Wakanda truly had nothing else to attract Ben's interest. But he couldn't say that directly, not unless he intended to go to war with Wakanda.
"Let's look at this first, Mr. T'Chaka."
He tapped a few times on the H.A.M.M.E.R. tabletop. This large, round table was also a supercomputer, and it immediately displayed the data Ben had compiled.
"In a few months, we will face a new enemy," he said, gesturing towards the sky. "Not from any single country, but from the Cosmos."
"If possible, we wouldn't want to disturb Wakanda's peace, but the situation is different now."
T'Challa and T'Chaka stared at the screen with immense surprise, for a moment unable to distinguish between reality and a movie.
After a while, T'Chaka finally asked, "Is all of this true?"
"Today isn't April Fool's Day," Norman said, rubbing his forehead.
"This crisis from the Cosmos concerns not just the fate of one or two countries, but also Wakanda's fate—"
"Enough!" T'Chaka interrupted him directly.
"How much Vibranium do you want?"
He was direct and to the point.
T'Chaka didn't believe that H.A.M.M.E.R. Director Norman Osborn would deceive him on such a matter. In fact, deception would be impossible.
The timeframe was too short; if it were false, it would be exposed within the year.
"We can provide Vibranium," T'Chaka said, then shook his head. "But Wakanda will not participate in this war."
Ben and Norman didn't comment on this. T'Challa, however, looked somewhat displeased.
He frowned and said, "Father, we cannot stand idly by."
"We cannot, T'Challa," T'Chaka said, shaking his head sternly.
"Father!"
T'Challa was still unhappy. "If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold. This isn't just one country's problem; it's Earth's safety!"
"Wakanda is not ready."
T'Chaka looked sternly at T'Challa, understanding his son's thoughts.
Years of traveling abroad had made T'Challa more connected to the world outside Wakanda.
"You are too close to other worlds, T'Challa. It's not a bad thing, but you are too far from Wakanda."
In reality, every prince who succeeded the Black Panther would travel abroad for a period. For example, T'Chaka's father had once been friends with Captain America.
T'Chaka also had experience traveling, but he had returned to his country long ago and ruled Wakanda as king for so many years.
To be honest, it wasn't that he didn't want to, but he knew deep down that Wakanda wasn't ready.
The current Wakandans were accustomed to a self-sufficient, isolated way of life. Although he was king, there were still many independent tribes within Wakanda.
While those tribal leaders accepted his rule, there were frictions between them.
If he rashly announced that Wakanda would open up to the world, it would only stir up dissatisfaction among the people and could even lead to civil unrest.
Even the decision to provide Vibranium to Norman carried immense risks.
T'Challa only saw the necessity of Wakanda interacting with the world, but he didn't see if Wakanda was ready to welcome the world.
Seeing that the two were about to argue over their differing views, Ben quickly said:
"We understand you, Mr. T'Chaka."
Of course, he didn't care about Wakanda's forces, who used spears as weapons and fought like tribal conflicts.
Vibranium was enough.
Naturally, he had to say the right things.
"Being able to provide us with Vibranium is already the greatest help. Everything needs to be done step by step. We at H.A.M.M.E.R. absolutely respect Wakanda's sovereignty and hope to achieve deeper cooperation with Wakanda in the future."
Then he looked at T'Challa and said, "Prince T'Challa wants to take on more responsibility for the world. I think he can participate as an individual."
"You mean...?"
"I believe Prince T'Challa has heard of the Avengers."
Ben intended to bring the Black Panther into the Avengers.
It wasn't that he didn't want him to join the Galactic Plumbers, but the Avengers had greater fame at the moment.
Moreover, unlike the Avengers, the Galactic Plumbers were Ben's private team. Whether it was Harry, Peter, or everyone on Sakaar, they were all considered his own people.
The Avengers, on the other hand, were just an alliance.
The independence of the heroes was stronger. T'Challa, as the future king, was actually very opinionated and not suitable to stay in the Galactic Plumbers.
At least not as a core member.
Tony was the same in this regard. Although Ben had given him a Galactic Plumbers medal, he hadn't actually made him join the organization.
Besides...
H.A.M.M.E.R. itself was just the facade of the Galactic Plumbers; it made little difference where it was.
"This..."
T'Chaka hesitated, unsure whether to let his son take the risk.
But he thought about it, and perhaps it wasn't a bad idea. With T'Challa acting as the Black Panther and operating in the world, it would be easier for Wakanda to integrate into the world when the time came that it was truly ready.
However, before that, he needed to take T'Challa back to Wakanda to hold the ceremony in advance and allow him to obtain the power of the Panther God.
So they left with Ulysses.
Now, as soon as the Vibranium arrived, they could immediately prepare to establish the Galactic Plumbers Space Station.
Meanwhile, in the cosmos.
Dozens of ferocious Chitauri Beasts advanced through the void.
They resembled a vast school of space whales, swimming through the sea of stars known as the cosmos.
However, these creatures' bodies had been modified, and their interiors were like spaceships, capable of housing many soldiers and weapons.
Accompanying these beasts was a massive army.
The ships and giant whales were packed with locust-like Chitauri.
And this was not even the main force of the Chitauri army, merely an advance team.
The main army was too vast, and the War Lord was very dissatisfied with their marching speed, so he dispatched an advance team to move faster and initiate the war.
Driven by his desire for war, he, as the king of the Chitauri, was also on this advance team.
He wanted to see rivers of blood!
However, this Chitauri army had not yet reached Earth. Instead, another ship they encountered on the way suffered disaster first.
A Chitauri Soldier rushed over and knelt subserviently, saying, "My Lord, we have discovered a small spacecraft on our route."
The War Lord was much larger than ordinary Chitauri. He sat atop the leading beast and slowly opened his eyes.
"Destroy it!"
The next moment, countless attacks shot out from the group of beasts, targeting the small spacecraft.
Inside the spaceship.
Several globs of sticky, colorful slime squeezed together.
"It's the Chitauri army!"
"I never expected to run into these locusts here. If only we could fight right now..."
"Our ship can't hold out much longer..."
"We have to escape the range of these locusts' attack quickly."
"Are there any habitable planets in nearby star systems?"
"There's one. Wait, it looks like Earth."
One of the slime blobs brought up the ship's star chart. On the screen, a blue planet appeared before the Symbiotes.
"Excellent! Earth is ruled by the Asgardians. Thor defeated the Symbiote Dragon Grendel, so he can defeat the Chitauri army too. Head towards that planet!"
In the past, when all Symbiotes were under Knull's control, they collected power from different races across the cosmos for him.
Until a few hundred years ago, when the Symbiote Dragon Grendel came to Earth and was defeated by Thor.
Perhaps it was the lightning, or some other reason, but after that battle, all Symbiotes lost their connection to Knull.
Since then, the Symbiotes stopped working for Knull. Instead, they turned their homeworld into a giant prison to imprison their creator.
One has to admit, it was quite the act of filial piety.
Afterward, the Symbiotes formed an organization called the Agents of the Cosmos, choosing to bond with noble warriors to bring peace to the universe.
The blue Symbiote prepared to press the ship's button for a warp jump escape. However, at that moment, a black slime blob rushed out and squeezed directly against the blue slime.
Instantly, the two slime blobs began to spin as if they had fallen into a blender.
"Venom, what the hell are you doing?!"
"No running! We should possess some Chitauri, control their bodies, eat their heads, and shove their promotion devices into the War Lord's dermatitis! Let them know how powerful we are!"
"Shut up, you idiot!"
The blue Symbiote finally managed to squeeze Venom out of its body. Then, several other slime blobs surged forward and instantly subdued Venom.
Venom was truly a lunatic.
They really couldn't understand what was going on inside that guy's head.
"I don't know how you became an Agent of the Cosmos. You're clearly the worst one."
"That brings me to my story."
Venom wore a disgusted expression, as if just thinking about that host made him sick.
But no one wanted to hear about his regrettable past.
Escaping the Chitauri's pursuit was the priority now.
The blue Symbiote was just about to press the ship's warp button when, the next moment—
Boom!!
An explosion sounded, causing the ship to shake violently.
The several Symbiote slime blobs squeezed together instantly and then separated. All the instruments in the ship were now emitting alarm sounds.
"This ship is unusable! Get to the escape pods quickly!"
The slime blobs moved instantly, squeezing into different escape pods.
The next moment—
Boom!!!
The ship exploded like fireworks, completely turning into cosmic dust.
The War Lord watched this scene with a calm expression.
A small ship was nothing more than a small firework before the real war began.
Soon, billions of lives on Earth would be his to slaughter!
At this moment, a faint, blurry figure appeared before him. The shadow stood in the darkness, its face obscured, but its tall, slender build clearly distinguished it from the surrounding Chitauri.
"How much longer do I have to wait?" the shadow asked.
The War Lord opened his eyes and sneered:
"Soon. What, are you impatient, or are you afraid of staying by that person's side?"
"Shut up!" the shadow roared in anger.
"You're just a stray dog under Thanos, and you dare to be disrespectful to me?"
Hearing this, the War Lord said mockingly, "Thanos defeated me, so naturally all the Chitauri regard him as king."
"You call me a stray dog under his command, what does that make you?"
"A pathetic worm under control?"
"You don't even have full control of your own mind, you just need to do what you're supposed to!"
With that, the War Lord raised his battle axe and shot a purple laser at the dark figure.
The beam instantly shattered the illusion, but before it did, it illuminated the face of the shadowy figure.
— Loki.
I don't know if anyone guessed Loki was the mole earlier. Actually, I did give a few hints, like Loki's behavior. When he first arrived on Earth, he instinctively went for the Tesseract instead of looking for Thor immediately. Ben tricked him by saying he got nervous when Heimdall was mentioned
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