AHumanMadeMOFO
patreon
Chapter 186: Infiltration! (1)
🕑 Added 2025-01-25 08:21:43 +0000 UTC"Hurry, this way!" T'Pani led a group of Border Guards escorting his pregnant sister, Nanali, to the back gate of the palace.
A convoy had been waiting there for some time.
"Captain Carter, this could be an important person. Should we act?" one of the super-soldiers, Luc Drelov, asked Carter as he watched the distinctively dressed Wakandans.
"They are not our target. Don't complicate things," Carter replied, shaking her head. As she watched the convoy begin to move, she realized that a quick confrontation would be difficult due to their numbers. However, she memorized Nanali's face from the protected group.
T'Pani was someone she recognized from mission briefings.
But Nanali? No one knew her.
Even though Wakanda had revealed itself over a year ago, information traveled slowly in this era of poor communication. Wakanda's tight security around its leadership made it nearly impossible for other nations to gather intelligence.
Aside from King Azzuri and a few public leaders like T'Pani, most high-ranking Wakandans remained unknown. Nanali, one of Azzuri's wives, was even more hidden.
News of her pregnancy was a tightly guarded secret, known only to Azzuri, T’Pani, and a few royal medical staff.
To the outside world, young King Azzuri was believed to have no heirs.
If he were captured or killed, Wakanda would officially fall, giving other nations a clear path to divide its resources.
After T'Pani and his group left, Carter and her team emerged from their hiding place and made their way deeper into the palace.
With defeat near and the king fighting on the front lines, most of the non-combat personnel had already been evacuated, leaving the palace nearly empty. Only a handful of guards remained to perform their duties one last time.
This made it easy for Carter's team to infiltrate. Even with vibranium weapons, the guards posed little threat to the super-soldiers.
After overpowering and interrogating two guards, they learned the location of Wakanda's research lab and maximum security prison—in the mountains behind the royal city, at the site of the giant panther statue.
"Damn it... We went the wrong way!" Andrew Scott, another Super Soldier, cursed as he looked at the distant mountain, which was probably over ten kilometers away.
"Stop complaining and move fast," Carter ordered with a frown. "If the Wakandans are evacuating, the lab may be moving as well. If we don't hurry, we won't find anything."
Traveling with jetpacks wasn't an option. Flying through the enemy capital would only alert the Wakandans to their presence.
In addition, the jetpacks had limited fuel. Though they were powered by efficient Red Alert style liquid fuel, it wasn't practical for routine travel—this wasn't a video game, after all, where fuel seemed unlimited.
If they could get their hands on an Arc Reactor in the future, things would be different.
Speaking of the Arc Reactor, Josh was quite interested.
Many believed it was a future invention of Tony Stark, but that wasn't entirely true.
Howard Stark had originally developed the Arc Reactor using energy from the Tesseract. However, due to the material limitations of the time, he was unable to miniaturize it.
But with vibranium now widely available, Josh wondered if Howard might be able to achieve miniaturization sooner.
This anticipation was one of Josh's main reasons for pushing for Wakanda's early reveal.
After all, Tony Stark's time was still a long way off.
Though Josh was confident he could live until then, nearly seventy years was far too long for his patience.
"Even though they're all backwards, this country isn't like those backward nations that can't even make a screw. So I think there has to be some kind of transportation around here. Don't you think so, buddy?" Luc turned his gaze to the two subdued Wakandan palace guards as Carter and Andrew prepared to walk to their destination.
Hearing this, Carter and Andrew's eyes lit up.
Five minutes later, three sleek, futuristic motorcycles roared out of the palace and sped down the streets of Wakanda, startling the fleeing citizens, who quickly stepped aside.
While Wakanda was wealthy, the royal family tightly controlled vibranium, leaving the average citizen with a surprisingly primitive lifestyle.
Public transportation, such as trams and trains, was well established and free in the royal city, so private vehicles were almost nonexistent.
In times of crisis like this, most civilians—except those with livestock—had no choice but to flee on foot, much like people in other underdeveloped parts of Africa.
Fortunately, as enhanced superhumans with extraordinary reflexes, Carter and her team were able to move quickly without risking any accidents.
Before setting out, they had wrapped themselves tightly in the capes and uniforms of the Wakandan palace guards, and wore helmets to make sure no one noticed they were intruders. Most onlookers assumed they were royal guardsmen on a mission.
What they didn't know was that shortly after they left the palace, another figure, masked and cloaked, infiltrated the compound.
This individual quickly killed the subdued palace guards, took one of the motorcycles, and also headed for Vibranium Mountain.
Motorcycle speeds in this era weren't all that different from the future, especially with Wakanda's use of vibranium materials.
For example, the military Harley-Davidson WLA—Captain America's WWII-era motorcycle—had a top speed of 65 mph (about 105 km/h).
The motorcycles used by Wakandan palace guards were even faster, reaching speeds of 80 mph (128 km/h).
Although they weren't traveling at full speed, they still reached the base of the mountain in about ten minutes.
Unlike the palace, where the evacuation had begun earlier, the vibranium mines—Wakanda's most important strategic resource—were evacuated at a slower pace. The area was heavily guarded.
As the three approached, the guards signaled for them to stop.
"What now, Captain?" Luc and Andrew asked as they slowly brought the motorcycles to a stop. Judging by the guards and the narrow entrance, it was obvious that sneaking in quietly like at the palace was impossible.
"No choice—we will force our way in. We'll go through there!" Carter pointed to the Black Panther statue near the top of the mountain.
