Chương 54: Wakanda Forever
The nation of Wakanda had an aura of solemnness surrounding it.
T'Challa, along with his sister and the Future Foundation behind him, broadcasted to his people his words of motivation. "Wakanda! We are under attack by a powerful adversary, one more powerful than the attackers who flooded our Golden City. We have lost hundreds of our children, our parents, our siblings, and our warriors because of a man's manipulation!
Doom is that man's name. In a matter of days, Doom will try to set foot in our nation, our impenetrable fortress...
However, Doom is a powerful man. Our fortress, our nation... It may not be as impenetrable as we think. He will come for us.
I understand that we have lost and we have not mourned, but now is not the time for mourning. Now is the time for preparation. We are the strongest warrior nation in the world. We have the strongest weapons made of Vibranium. We have the Black Panther and Bast's protection on our side, but we must still prepare ourselves!
Everyone who is able, I implore you to ready yourselves to protect the people you love. To protect Wakanda. We must protect her!
Once she is protected from this threat... only then can we mourn."
King T'Challa crossed his arms over his chest with closed fists, performing the Wakandan salute to his people. Behind him, the Future Foundation reciprocated this motion, along with his sister.
On the other side of the thousands of screens watching him and in the crowd before him, every single Wakandan in the nation crossed their arms over their hearts, even Spider-Man, whose arms were crossed inside his recovery chamber. "Wakanda forever!" They all shouted simultaneously, mentally preparing themselves for what was to come.
For the next week, that solemn, depressing aura around the nation never withered, it only increased.
The citizens were afraid, doing what they could to prepare themselves in various means. A draft had to take place, due to Wakanda's military being cut short after Namor's attack. Many children could do nothing but watch as their parents walked out of the door, unknown to them if they'd ever see them again.
For the most part, the hustling and bustling streets filled with markets, festivals, performers, and music were completely empty. It was as if Wakanda had become a ghost nation. Most people decided it would be best to spend these last few dreadful days with their families.
In the palace, the Future Foundation and the royal family planned out their defense to the best of their ability, but it was impossible. They had no clue where Doom would come from, how he would attack, and what he was even capable of. On top of that, Doom always seemed to be a step ahead of everything they did.
They were growing hopeless...
They had more individuals with superhuman strength than Doom to their knowledge, which was the reason they were able to defeat the Atlanteans before any more civilian deaths would occur, but they felt as if it weren't enough. There was too much uncertainty...
By the time Doomsday had come and the team waited for Doom's final message anxiously in King T'Challa's palace war room.
The Richards children were also there, standing by Spider-Man as he continued floating in the cylindrical chamber, just praying that he would wake up soon. The rest of the non-warrior Wakandans were also taking refuge in the palace, as it was the safest place in the nation with an underground bunker for civilians.
At exactly 12 PM, Doom gave him his final message.
Doom's face appeared before them all on the war room table, his eyes looking as if he was furious. Everyone felt a sick feeling in their stomachs upon seeing the man project from the table, even the King himself.
"King T'Challa!" Doom's voice boomed throughout the room, a voice so powerful that it could make the entire planet shake.
"You have failed to reciprocate my generosity to you, even after your various warnings.
Let it be known, King. Today will be the final day that the Black Panther lives on this planet and the final day that Wakanda exists as you've come to know it."
Doom, despite only being a projection, looked directly at the two kids standing next to Spider-Man before speaking to Valeria in particular with his dark, sinister voice. "Valeria... remember what I told you in your dreams..."
Valeria felt a shiver go down her body as everyone turned to look at her. She couldn't stop shaking, even after her brother grabbed her hand to try and calm her down. She had the feeling that he was in her head, but she didn't want to believe it to be true. This was evidence that it was in fact her reality.
"My familiar, my daughter..." Doom spoke, bringing many adverse reactions to everyone's faces.
Reed looked directly at Sue with a shocked expression on his face, but Sue shook her head in response. "N-no that's impossible. It's not true!" Sue said. She was being honest, Reed was the only possible father, at least, via natural means...
Doom spoke once more, having one final statement for the warriors.
"...All hope lies in Doom."
The projection faded, leaving everyone in the room stunned.
"Daughter?" Valeria whispered to herself, looking directly at her father as she said this. She'd wondered why she looked nothing like the man, why she didn't have his powers, and why the two of them seemingly had this wall put between them.
She was starting to believe Doom. She was considering if Doom was truly her real father.
"Sis..." Johnny said, looking over at Sue who looked as if she were about to be sick. Just the thought of birthing the child of Victor Von Doom was repulsive to her. It made her feel unclean, soiled, and filthy.
"Tell me the truth!" Valeria shouted, looking at both her parents. "Who is Doom!? Who is he to me!?"
Sue was still too revolted with the idea to move, leaving it to Reed to approach his daughter, placing a hand on her shoulder as he bent down on one knee. She removed it, not wanting to be touched by him.
Reed sighed, thinking about how Doom must've planned this all from the beginning, but he couldn't figure out why. Reed spoke calmly to his daughter, "Victor Von Doom is an old family friend of ours. He..." Reed paused, not really knowing how to tell Valeria this without making the situation worse.
"You were going to kill your mother upon being birthed into this world. You would have also died in the progress... We considered- I considered terminating the pregnancy when I found out because I didn't want to lose you both... It was more logical to me to save your mother rather than both of you dying during childbirth."
Valeria was stunned, hearing her father admit that he would have killed her in the womb if it meant saving his wife. It was a hard decision for any person to make. As the father, one wouldn't want to see their wife die along with a baby that already had zero chance of living. However, as the mother, one wouldn't want to kill a child who was so far along inside of them, they'd want to take the risk.
"I love you, Valeria and I regret that decision. I regret having those thoughts, I truly do but I was scared. Your mother didn't take my advice, she didn't speak to me for months after that, it almost ruined our marriage. She had no one else to turn to so... she called Doom." As Reed said this, Sue was still holding her stomach in the back of the room, being comforted by her brother and Shuri rubbing her back as Ben stood close by.
"Doom agreed that he would help her deliver you using his sorcery, but only under one condition. If he got to name you. Your mother agreed, and he helped her give birth to you, our daughter, and named you Valeria. However, it seems that whatever method Doom used... it did more than just save your life."
This caused Valeria to spiral. Something inside of her broke. It felt as if her entire life had been a lie. They didn't want to tell her this at such a young age because they knew she wouldn't take it well, but they had no other choice. "You lied." she whispered, not even looking up at her father.
"We didn't lie, we just-" Before Reed could finish, his daughter erupted.
"YOU LIED TO ME! MOTHER WOULD NEVER LIE, YOU MADE HER LIE!" As she shouted, a pink aura began to surround her body before it exploded, sending Reed backward and crashing onto a table.
Everyone in the room was shaken. Valeria's powers had finally manifested themselves, seemingly due to immense trauma and stress. Though she only demonstrated a piece of her abilities, they looked to be similar to her mother's in a way.
Valeria looked down at her hands and body, shaking due to how horrified she was by the power flowing through her. Her heart rate skyrocketed and she began to have a panic attack. She began flickering between being visible and invisible in the same place until she began teleporting around the room, a power that her mother did not have.
Valeria continued to scream as her abilities went haywire, shooting energy projections all around the room as everyone took cover. She couldn't control it, she was going to harm someone if she wasn't stopped. The pink energy blasts shooting from her body would've destroyed everything in the room if they weren't made of Vibranium.
Shuri began messing with a device in her hands before pulling a piece of it off and throwing what looked like a bead at Valeria. Once the bead made contact, Valeria stopped in her tracks and collapsed. The Future Foundation all looked at Shuri with fearful eyes before she put up both hands and calmed them down. "Power dampener. She's fine. She collapsed from the shock. We need to get the children in the safe room, now."
"Okoye!" T'Challa looked to the leader of the Dora Milaje, who nodded and immediately picked Valeria off the ground while a few other soldiers walked to Franklin to escort them out.
Just as this all occurred, the power went off in the palace. However, it wasn't just the palace that was suffering from this outage, but the entire nation, including Wakanda's defensive barriers. It was only for a second before the backup generators kicked on, but they all knew that the one second that passed was all Doom needed to get through the Wakandan borders.
All around Wakanda, robots fell from the sky, landing in every single Wakandan city and village with laser rifles and technologically advanced spears and scepters in their hands. These robots were clearly inspired by Tony Stark, all sharing many similarities with his Iron Man costume, except they were green and silver.
In unison, the Doombots lifted themselves up before standing up straight and scanning the area around them. Quickly, they were able to deduce that the cities were completely empty, having no readings of life and not a single soul on the streets.
However, the Doombots would soon know the strength of Wakanda.
Horns began blaring throughout the entire nation before Wakandan warriors were heard shouting war cries as they emerged from the shadows with their Vibranium spears and armor.
It was an ambush, catching the Doombots off guard as the Wakandan civilians who chose to fight began dismantling them with their Vibranium pikes. Some of the Doombots were able to retaliate, firing lasers from their rifles and swinging their weapons at the Wakandans and taking a few out, however, these minions were no match for the Wakandans.
Back at the palace, the Future Foundation, T'Challa, Shuri, and the Dora Milaje walked out of the entrance and began walking toward the massive field in front of the palace, spotting hundreds, maybe even thousands of Doombots in the far distance.
They were blocked by one last plasma barricade that surrounded the royal palace, as well as the surrounding buildings and fields. This was a last resort for the Wakandans, the last line of defense as everyone who was incapable of fighting the war was beneath the palace, huddling together and praying to Bast.
Spider-Man wasn't with them, still sleeping in the pod and thrashing about due to his night terrors. However, his recovery was almost complete.
Leaving the palace far behind them, the group of heroes found themselves in an open field, getting closer to the overwhelming army in front of them that was still behind the barrier. T'Challa was not afraid in the slightest, he was prepared to protect his nation with everything he had.
Mr. Fantastic.
The Invisible Woman.
The Human Torch.
The Thing.
And Princess Shuri all walked beside the king, sharing the same heavy expression in preparation for the battle.
The group of heroes stopped in front of the massive army of Wakandan soldiers from every tribe in the nation. Even the Jabari tribe, the tribe who started their own mini-nation in Wakanda due to not wanting to be involved with the royal family, was there to protect their nation.
"Yibambe!" T'Challa shouted to the thousands of soldiers behind him.
"Yibambe!" The army repeated, slamming their weapons on the ground.
"Yibambe!" T'Challa shouted once more.
"Yibambe!" Once again, his army chanted back to him.
"Yibambe!" T'Challa roared.
"Yibambe!" His army gave one final shout before slamming their weapons on the ground with one last mighty strike.
"Open the barrier at section fifteen!" T'Challa shouted, knowing that it was better to leave a small opening for them to get through, rather than having the army attack from all sides if the barrier were to break.
After T'Challa said this, he received word of another army at sector twelve, though this army was not made of machines. T'Challa looked shocked, smiling slightly before speaking. "Open up sector twelve first then." He ordered.
They asked for confirmation and he repeated himself. "Open sector twelve."
As soon as he said those words, the barrier opened and the Wakandan army looked to their left to see Namor and his army approaching in droves. This time, however, they were not enemies.
Namor, using his winged feet, flew to T'Challa, landing next to him with his trident in hand before looking at Doom's army with a furious gaze. He hated Doom just as much as T'Challa for making a fool of him and his nation. He wanted revenge.
"King Namor. I didn't think you'd come." T'Challa told him. Before Namor left, he asked him if he could help him defeat Doom, telling him that Doom would likely come for them next. T'Challa despised the Atlantean and he still wanted to kill him, but he knew he needed his help. Namor declined, telling the king that this was his fight, not the Atlanteans', so he left with his army.
However, the Atlantean king had a change of heart at the last minute.
"I chose to do what was right." Namor said as his army arrived next to the Wakandans. This wasn't entirely truthful. The real reason he came back was that he was afraid Doom would come for them next, just as T'Challa had claimed.
The Wakandan army and the Atlantean army all glared at each other with hate in their hearts. Just a week prior, they were trying to kill each other. However, they had to put their differences aside for this battle.
The army had practically doubled by this point, giving the Wakandans the numbers they needed to stand a chance. Out of all of the Doombots they could see, they knew that they had a chance at winning this war, a good chance at that.
With his sister standing on his other side, T'Challa crossed his arms over his chest, looking directly at Shuri as his mask covered his face and his claws extended. Shuri nodded to her brother as a black and gold Black Panther costume covered her body as well, mask included, as she crossed her arms and extended her claws.
It was against the rules to have two Black Panthers at once, however, when King T'Challa was absent at one point in the past, his sister took the mantle. When he returned, they both agreed for her to keep the power of the Black Panther within her, just in case she was ever needed again.
That time was now.
In unison, the brother and sister shouted together. "Wakanda forever!"
The Wakandans, the Future Foundation, and the Atlanteans all sprinted forward as the barrier opened. The Doombots began funneling in through the opening like roaches, running into and bumping off of each other like mindless drones.
The battle for Wakanda has just begun.
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