Although Wakanda's society remains a relatively primitive tribal system, their response was impressively quick.
At the king's command, warriors from various tribes rapidly assembled.
Just three or four minutes after separating from Okoye, the old king and Black Panther arrived outside the energy shield with a small escort team aboard an aircraft.
Chitauri soldiers were pouring out of the wormhole, riding single-pilot aircraft and swarming downward.
From afar, it looked as though a hive of bees had been stirred, sending countless bees flying out.
"Your Majesty, I suggest activating an additional energy shield a hundred meters back. We could retreat outside the second layer," a guard suggested out of concern for the king's safety.
"Not for now!" The king waved off her suggestion. Wakanda's energy wasn't limitless, and vibranium was still being extracted continuously.
Who knows how many more enemy forces are waiting to be transported above.
If the current shield suffices, there's no need to activate another. More importantly, he needed to observe the alien forces up close.
Black Panther stood close by the old king's side, watching the Chitauri soldiers within the energy shield flying about like a swarm of bees.
The Chitauri soldiers, resembling a crazed swarm, charged directly at the shield upon landing.
Racing at high speeds, each one crashed into the energy shield and shattered into pieces.
A dragon-like Chitauri ship emerged from the wormhole, a rumbling roar resounding through the sky.
"Damn it! What on earth is that thing?" The old king's expression changed, and he turned to his guards, issuing orders.
"Increase energy output. Focus all power on this layer of the shield."
"Father, this is too risky! Let's activate another shield. You should command from a safer location and leave this to me!" Black Panther looked at the old king with concern.
"If one layer can't hold, two won't make much difference. It's better to strengthen this one. Our city is right behind us, full of civilians. No matter what, we must keep the battlefield contained here."
"Don't try to persuade me. I'll stay here and fight alongside you all!"
As they spoke, the first dragon-like aircraft in the sky crashed into the energy shield.
The massive dragon head rammed into the shield, causing the translucent barrier to flare up in bright blue light.
The contact point between the shield and the dragon head emitted a crackling noise, like a bug zapper.
As the dragon head struggled against the shield, its outer shell was slowly eroded by the energy, eventually exposing the soft, synthetic tissue within.
Finally, halfway through the shield, the dragon-like aircraft was sliced in half by the energy barrier.
Although they managed to stop this dragon-like aircraft, the following wave of Chitauri soldiers wasn't immediately shattered as before.
Instead, they began to penetrate the shield, though only partially, and were sliced in half upon entry.
It took over ten seconds for the shield to return to its full strength.
"Inform Okoye to deploy combat aircraft and closely monitor the areas where large ships impact the energy shield. We can't afford any breaches."
The old king continued issuing orders.
Uncertain of the enemy's numbers and abilities, he decided to hold them off with energy for now, observing and formulating a strategy.
Hawkeye, watching from afar, also keenly noticed the temporary weakness in the shield's power after the dragon-like aircraft crashed into it.
At this point, he fully understood that the backward country he had meticulously chosen actually hid cutting-edge technology unknown to the rest of the world.
Things were getting a bit complicated. However, his priority now wasn't to occupy any stronghold but to figure out how to escape and rescue Loki first.
Hawkeye, bow drawn and arrow ready, quickly took down a Chitauri soldier.
Calming himself, he placed his hand on the fallen soldier's single-pilot aircraft.
The Chitauri army and its soldiers seemed to function like an insect society, similar to ants or bees.
In this army, all equipment and soldiers, including the dragon-shaped aircraft, shared a collective mind or operating system.
By accessing a single-pilot aircraft, Hawkeye could convey his commands to the Chitauri soldiers.
His authority to command the army came from the mark of the Mind Stone on his staff.
Noticing Wakanda's mobilization of large military forces and aircraft, Hawkeye directed several dragon-shaped aircraft to launch suicide attacks on the energy shield from different directions.
As for the chaotic Chitauri soldiers, Hawkeye originally intended to have them use their energy weapons to deplete the shield's power. However, right now, he needed an exit, and the chaos would help him stay hidden.
After ensuring the dragon-shaped aircraft had drawn enough attention from the forces outside, Hawkeye secretly commanded several dozen Chitauri soldiers to attack a specific point on the shield in what appeared to be a disorganized assault.
One after another, more than twenty soldiers threw themselves at a single point, pressing and tearing at it with their bodies, continuously draining energy from that small section of the shield.
Visibly, each Chitauri soldier was lasting longer at that point.
Finally, after the sacrifice of twenty-seven Chitauri soldiers, a hole about 1.5 meters in diameter appeared in the energy shield.
"Doctor! Now!" Hawkeye acted decisively, leaping through the gap.
The hole began to close.
Dr. Selvig saw the shrinking gap, gritted his teeth, and mimicked Hawkeye, leaping through as well.
He barely made it out, losing half the toe of his shoe in the process. It nearly sliced off his toes.
"God bless!" Dr. Selvig sighed in relief, staring at his exposed toes.
"God won't bless scum like you!"
As soon as Dr. Selvig finished speaking, a voice accompanied by a shadow appeared in front of him.
Before he could figure out who it was, he was knocked unconscious with a single punch.
Hawkeye immediately drew his bow and shot an explosive arrow with a mini-bomb attached toward the Black Panther, who had suddenly appeared.
But to his surprise, Black Panther neither dodged nor
flinched, enduring the explosion head-on.
Without even staggering, Black Panther charged straight at him!
*******************************************
You can get access to early chapters on patr*on.
If you like my work and you want to support me then you can become my patron on patre*n.
My patr*on account is S_Pandey_0170
Although the damage caused by the dragon-shaped aircraft to the energy shield looked frightening, with the cooperation of the warriors from the various tribes, it was dangerous but without major incident.
However, after the Chitauri soldiers failed to force their way through and switched to using their energy weapons, the energy supply surged as if it had hit a high-voltage line.
"Okoye, get the guard to form ranks. We need to open a gap to stabilize the energy shield!"
The old king gave the order.
Five minutes later, a gap about two meters wide opened in the energy shield. Immediately, the Chitauri soldiers, like sharks smelling blood, swarmed toward the opening.
The king's guard, already prepared, blocked the gap. Their spears transformed into high-density energy weapons, unleashing volley after volley into the breach.
Blue energy beams densely shot toward the gap, and the approaching Chitauri soldiers fell in waves.
From the air, the scene was both awe-inspiring and oddly satisfying, like watching a tower defense game.
It was through this gap that, a few minutes later, Dr. Banner discovered the whereabouts of the Tesseract.
Hawkeye shook his head, which was throbbing with pain. Fragmented memories of being controlled surged through his mind, but he couldn't piece together a complete recollection.
His head hurt more and more. Hawkeye instinctively wanted to clutch his head, only to realize his hands were tightly bound to his body, rendering him immobile!
"Ahhh!!!"
Hawkeye let out a painful scream, veins bulging, and finally opened his eyes.
Two Black women dressed in strange red outfits stood beside him, holding spears, watching him from either side.
Hawkeye himself was tied up, lying on the grass.
The old king sat in a folding chair brought by Okoye, with Okoye and Black Panther standing behind him, curiously watching the now-awake Hawkeye.
"Awake? Now that you're up, explain what's going on with these aliens," the old king asked calmly.
Even though his memories of being controlled were fragmented, Hawkeye could still piece together what had happened.
"I didn't expect there would really be an army. It's an alien civilization—the Chitauri. They've come to Earth because…"
At this point, there was no reason to hide anything, so Hawkeye told the old king everything about S.H.I.E.L.D., the Tesseract, and Loki.
"I need to make a call. There's no way to close that portal by conventional means, and who knows what else might come through. I have to make a call!"
Hawkeye struggled to sit up as he spoke.
"Make a call? To bring more of your alien friends to Earth?"
Okoye said coldly.
She and Black Panther had led a team to try and shut down the Tesseract earlier, but failed. Two of her people died during the mission, so she had no patience left for Hawkeye.
The old king said nothing and looked toward Black Panther.
"The energy levels outside the so-called Tesseract are off the charts. We currently have no way to close the wormhole in the sky. Even if we figure out a solution later, who knows how many lives will be lost in the meantime? We've already lost several warriors today!"
"I think we should consider trusting him," Black Panther said.
"I agree. While I'm not sure about his relationship with the aliens, he hasn't lied about everything—for instance, his identity as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent!"
The one speaking was Black Panther's younger sister, Shuri, who was only about thirteen or fourteen at the time. Despite her young age, she already possessed an unparalleled scientific genius.
Within Wakanda, they believed Shuri was the world's most brilliant scientist, not the much-rumored Tony Stark from the outside world.
"Shuri, when did you get here?" the old king asked in surprise, though there was no hint of reprimand. His daughter had always been very independent.
"Just when he was telling those stories," Shuri said, holding a tablet that displayed Hawkeye's personal file from S.H.I.E.L.D.
"I just took a little tour of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database," Shuri added, showing the tablet to her father, while noticing Hawkeye's astonished expression.
She smiled at Hawkeye and said, "Actually, your firewalls are pretty good—just not good enough to stop me!"
Shuri had pulled up not only Hawkeye's file, but also information on the Tesseract and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s project concerning it. Cross-referencing this with what Hawkeye had said, they were able to confirm that his story was mostly true.
"You can make your call, but for safety's sake, please cooperate for now and stay within our sight. Also, your equipment won't be returned to you just yet," Black Panther said as he squatted in front of Hawkeye, holding a phone.
He casually untied the ropes binding Hawkeye.
"Thank you! But I probably don't need to make that call anymore… because they're already here," Hawkeye said softly, looking into the distance.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Black Panther asked, standing up.
"No, the Avengers," Hawkeye replied, his gaze fixed on two small black dots in the sky.
The two tiny dots, just barely visible to Black Panther, began approaching rapidly. In no time, a red figure and a black figure streaked across the sky, passing through the shielded area, flying toward Black Panther, Hawkeye, and the others.
*Boom!*
Blake and Tony Stark hurtled down from the sky, landing heavily on the grass, their feet driving into the ground with the force of their descent.
*Swish!*
The king's guard immediately raised their weapons toward the two newcomers.
The old king waved his hand, signaling the guards to lower their weapons.
"Blake, Tony Stark, I didn't expect that in one day, Wakanda would face an alien invasion and also be visited by two superheroes!" the king said.
"Hello! You must be the honorable King of Wakanda," Tony said. "First of all, we don't really consider ourselves superheroes. And secondly, we're not the only ones who've come!"
*******************************************
You can get access to early chapters on patr*on.
If you like my work and you want to support me then you can become my patron on patre*n.
My patr*on account is S_Pandey_0170
Vous aimerez peut-être aussi
Commentaire de paragraphe
La fonction de commentaire de paragraphe est maintenant disponible sur le Web ! Déplacez la souris sur n’importe quel paragraphe et cliquez sur l’icône pour ajouter votre commentaire.
De plus, vous pouvez toujours l’activer/désactiver dans les paramètres.
OK