Chapter 264: War against Wakanda 5 -259
Jack Bright was quick to discard everything his host might have considered precious, save for some of the Vibranium. It was a metal he had never heard about before, meaning it could be valuable, or just plain interesting, and he wasn't worried about it being dangerous.
It was hardly going to be any worse than SCP-682; that lovely puppy sure had a nasty bite to it.
"Alright, so let's see just what is going on around here." He mused as he walked out, only slightly careful, after all while he didn't fear death, getting his host killed would mean that he would have to wait to get a new one, and without the Foundation around to put the amulet in some new hands, that could take a while.
Jack stepped out into the open, his senses immediately alert to his surroundings. Wakanda was unlike any place he had been before—an intriguing blend of advanced technology and traditional aesthetics. The architecture spoke of a civilization that had thrived for centuries, untouched by outside influence, and yet, it was clear that they were light-years ahead in certain areas.
"Interesting," he muttered, running his fingers over the smooth surface of the vibranium shard in his pocket. "I wonder what secrets you're hiding, my little friend."
Wakanda was truly a strange place, huts that looked like they belonged to a poor African country, yet all of it filled with very advanced technology, making even these mud hut-looking homes all the modern luxuries.
He would have loved to go around and explore the place, to take advantage of the fact that he still looked like a native Wakandan, Yet he could clearly see that it wasn't an opportunity.
After all, the air was filled with smoke, screams, and explosions; the sky was filled with black jets and robot-looking things raining death down onto the people around him.
Jack watched in fascination as the chaos unfolded around him. He wasn't a stranger to battle—his years with the Foundation had put him in the path of more danger than most people could ever imagine—but this was different. This was war on a scale that even he hadn't seen in a while. The sight of Wakanda's highly advanced forces clashing with what appeared to be an invading army of drones and soldiers was like something out of a sci-fi movie, but this was no fiction.
"Looks like I've walked into quite the party," he muttered, ducking behind a piece of rubble as a stray missile exploded nearby. The shockwave rattled his bones, but he grinned through it, adrenaline surging. "And here I thought today was going to be boring."
He peered around the corner, watching as Wakandan warriors fought back with an intensity that was almost beautiful. Their vibranium weapons flashed with an eerie blue light, yet their attacks failed to hit, or if they did they were shaken off, dealing minor to no damage.
Jack felt a pang of empathy for these people. They were facing a force they hadn't expected, and despite all their power, they were struggling. He had seen this kind of desperation before, back at the Foundation when containment breaches turned into full-blown disasters.
As much as Jack enjoyed a good fight, he knew when it was time to make a tactical retreat. This wasn't his battle, and getting caught up in the crossfire wouldn't do him any favors. Besides, there were far too many questions racing through his mind, and he needed answers. Answers that only the Foundation could provide.
"Alright, let's get out of here," Jack muttered to himself, scanning the chaos around him. He needed to find higher ground, a vantage point where he could get a sense of the layout and maybe even spot a way out of this mess.
That, however would also be highly dangerous as it would make him an easy target by the airborne robot fighters up there. The sound of blaster fire and the whirring of drones was constant, making it hard to focus, but Jack's years of experience allowed him to cut through the noise.
He spotted a narrow alleyway that seemed to lead away from the main conflict and quickly made his way toward it, keeping low and staying in the shadows. The alley twisted and turned, but eventually opened up into a slightly quieter street, where the fighting hadn't reached yet. It gave Jack a moment to catch his breath and take stock of his situation.
"Alright, next step: communication," he muttered, looking around for any signs of technology he could hijack. Wakandan tech was unlike anything he'd seen before, but he figured he could find some way to interface with it. After all, he'd managed to adapt to countless anomalous situations in the past—what was a little advanced tech in comparison?
His eyes fell on what looked like a small market stall that had been abandoned in the chaos, and his grin returned. Among the various goods left behind, he spotted a communication device, one that had likely been used for local transmissions.
"Well, well, what have we here?" Jack picked it up, examining it for a moment before fiddling with the controls. "Let's see if I can patch through to the big boys upstairs."
Jack quickly realized that he had perhaps underestimated the complexity of the task before him. After all this tech might as well be alien in nature, as it bore very little resemblance with the kind of things he was used to.
Meaning that to work with this stuff, he would have to learn basic functions of it, like how to turn things on and off, and well, the strange symbols on the buttons made little sense, and their placement also didn't seem to follow normal patterns.
"Great," Jack muttered, shaking his head in mild exasperation. "It's like trying to hotwire a UFO."
Despite the unfamiliarity of the Wakandan technology, Jack wasn't one to give up easily. He'd faced down eldritch horrors, contained anomalous creatures, and even escaped the wrath of SCP-682 on more than one occasion. A high-tech communication device wasn't about to get the better of him. He took a deep breath, his fingers moving carefully over the buttons, pressing and twisting in different combinations, trying to coax some kind of response from the device.
"Alright, come on. How hard can it be to get a signal?" He muttered, giving the device a small shake for good measure.
Yet, he wasn't able to pick up anything, not even static, which he wasn't sure what meant. Did that mean he couldn't find a signal? Or that he was just doing it wrong. He really wished he had a manual right about now.
Yet as another explosion happened nearby, sending a shockwave washing over him, he suddenly realized he had been stupid. There was no way the attackers hadn't taken measures to limit the enemy's means of communication.
"Of course," Jack muttered under his breath, frustration bubbling up. "Jamming signals. Should've guessed."
It made perfect sense. Whoever was behind this assault on Wakanda clearly had a well-thought-out strategy. Isolate the defenders, cut off their communications, and ensure chaos reigned. The fact that Jack hadn't considered it sooner annoyed him to no end, but there was no point dwelling on it now. He needed to find another way to get the information he so desperately craved.
He tossed the communication device back onto the stall, a little harder than necessary, and took a moment to think. If the standard tech wouldn't work, he'd have to try something more direct. Maybe he could get his hands on some enemy equipment, something that wasn't blocked by their own jamming. But that meant going deeper into the fray, and that came with its own set of risks.
"Well, Jack," he said to himself, "nothing ventured, nothing gained." He straightened up, steeling himself for the challenge ahead.
He began moving back toward the source of the fighting, this time keeping his eyes peeled for anything that looked like it didn't belong to Wakanda—anything metallic, angular, or buzzing with that telltale energy of an invading force's tech. He'd have to get up close and personal, but that was where Jack Bright excelled.
So with all the bravery that only someone immortal and unafraid of both death and pain could have, he moved right towards the fighting, without any weapon of his own, for most a foolish move, but for him, just a regular day.
As Jack moved closer to the heart of the battle, he kept low and nimble, dodging stray energy blasts and debris from the destruction all around him. The intensity of the fighting grew with each step, and he could feel the heat radiating from nearby explosions, the air thick with smoke and the acrid scent of burning metal.
He paused for a moment, eyes scanning the battlefield, looking for anything that might give him an advantage. He needed something that would let him tap into the enemy's communication network—some piece of tech that could bypass the jamming signals and allow him to figure out what was going on. And then he saw it.
One of the drone like things, or robots, or maybe even a person in a mechanical battle suit, was nearby. And close enough that he could get a proper look at them for the first time, yet what his eyes locked on to was the symbol on their chest.
"Damn, didn't expect such a twist at the end." He muttered.
A/N
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