That enormous vibranium teor could be mined for centuries and still not run dry. It was the kind of fortune that fell out of the sky and decided to stay.
Uld looked at the Wakandan soldiers standing nearby. Most of them carried shields and spears, though a small number had been issued firearms. It was the sort of outdated military setup you might expect from a World War I battlefield, the kind still seen in a lot of African nations. That gave her an angle to work with.
Since Drex Valen had sent her here, Uld was already convinced Wakanda could not be empty-handed. These locals might look simple and harmless, but that did not an they were fools. Would a people with a treasure like vibranium really sell it all and keep none for themselves?
"King T'Chaka," Uld said, "Blade Technology Industries can provide you with a batch of advanced weapons."
It was a subtle offer, but the Vanko father and son had designed more than a few conventional weapons, even if they could not compare to Tony Stark.
"Advanced weapons?" T'Chaka's eyes lit up. "Do you an that armored man flying in the sky?"
Uld's face went dark.
These African natives really had so wild ideas. War Machine was the sort of prize that even the five major powers could not casually buy, no matter how much money they offered. If the great powers wanted one, they had to wait in line. And they thought they could just be given one?
T'Chaka acted as though he had not noticed Uld's expression.
In truth, he understood his own nation's weaknesses better than anyone. Wakanda had once sold vibranium to the Arican governnt in exchange for money, then used that money to equip a modern, Arican-style military. But the tribe's warriors looked down on guns and rifles. They stubbornly preferred the bows and arrows they had trained with since childhood.
That was one of the drawbacks of Wakanda's isolation. Without outside cultural pressure, the tribes remained conservative and resistant to change.
T'Chaka had realized this the mont he took the throne. World War II only made the problem more obvious. He wanted to push national education forward, but the elders of the other tribes opposed him fiercely. They believed it would weaken the roots of the nation, and so the plan had been stalled ever since.
It was not simply that the elders were shortsighted. Power in Wakanda depended on controlling knowledge, and knowledge created dissent. A population of obedient fools was easier to govern than a population of educated people with opinions. Even a child could see which sort of ruler would prefer which kind of people.
But the outside world was changing too fast.
T'Chaka knew that the elders' outdated thinking could not be overturned overnight. So he chose the path with the least resistance, starting with the Golden Tribe. He would strengthen that foundation first. Ten years, maybe twenty, later, the other tribes would be forced to follow or be left behind. Once the gap beca wide enough, old ideas would collapse under the weight of survival itself.
Governance was never sothing that happened in a single stroke.
In T'Chaka's plan, this generation would be the one to break Wakanda free from its primitive mindset. The true rise of the nation would belong to the next generation. He would clear the road, and then his son would inherit the throne and lead Wakanda into its ascent.
He did not know that his son, T'Challa, would eventually fulfill exactly that vision.
That was the future.
At least, it had been.
With Drex Valen now interfering, nobody could say for sure anymore.
If Wakanda sold a few more pieces of vibranium, they would certainly beco richer than Blade Technology Industries. But they did not dare.
Every piece they sold attracted another predator.
Vibranium was treasure.
It was also a burning coal they could not put down.
"As for War Machine," Uld said carefully, "I can't make that decision myself."
"Only ten kilograms of vibranium remain in the tribe's possession," T'Chaka said at once.
He was trying to offer a small piece of bait to hook a bigger fish. War Machine's technology was excellent. If Wakanda could study it, they would not have to fear the outside world nearly as much.
Ten kilograms?
Uld thought these natives were clever after all. So they still had that much vibranium. No, wait. By normal logic, they probably had even more hidden away sowhere.
She imdiately called Drex.
"Trade War Machine for vibranium?" Drex said without hesitation. "Of course. Trade. Whatever they have, take it. Wakanda's vibranium is definitely more than ten kilograms. Uld, they asure that stuff in tons."
If he were not worried about the Ancient One or Bast, the Black Panther God, stepping in to interfere, Drex would have stolen it already. It was not as if he lacked the ability.
War Machine already had Drex's own lock built into it. If soone tried to disassemble it without permission, it would simply explode. Black Queen would also monitor for exactly that kind of tampering. There was no need to worry about anyone cracking his technology.
Drex was generous enough to tell Uld to negotiate on that basis.
One War Machine for an equivalent weight of vibranium.
Blade Technology Industries would take as much as Wakanda was willing to hand over.
T'Chaka was not stupid. He knew perfectly well that the most valuable part of War Machine was not the shell. It was the core. At most, the suit was a glorified tin can. And they expected him to trade equal weight in vibranium for that?
Still, Uld held the line and refused to move.
T'Chaka considered letting her stew for a few days.
Instead, Uld simply got on a plane and left without any hesitation at all.
T'Chaka did not know that Drex had suddenly realized sothing useful.
If he could not take it by force, he could steal it.
In that case, he did not need to pay for War Machine at all.
He could just steal the vibranium.
Wakanda's science was probably only a few years ahead of the rest of the world at this point. They had not reached the spaceship era yet. That ant it was worth testing.
Using a photo from Uld, Drex arrived in Wakanda.
The shabby-looking exterior vanished under his gaze. In his eyes, the entire place was a high-tech city.
"So they've already developed to this level," he murmured.
He teleported straight into the city center without triggering a single alarm.
Vibranium could not block his x-ray vision, so he began searching for his target.
It did not take long.
He found a warehouse-like structure filled with neatly stacked square blocks of silver-white tal. At first glance, it looked ordinary, almost boring. But this was the famous vibranium.
Drex focused his super vision and examined the molecular structure carefully, just to make sure he was not mistaken.
He had already confird it once before.
This matched exactly.
He had known Wakanda possessed a large amount of vibranium, but this was absurd.
He felt as if he had stumbled into a mountain of gold.
Wakandan workers moved the tal around casually, loading it onto forklifts and hauling it away. People ca and went constantly, collecting more vibranium. Then a hovering transport vehicle arrived, opened its cargo bay, and revealed a fresh pile of newly refined vibranium. It had been extracted that very day by Wakanda's mining tribe.
Drex released his ntal power.
Everyone froze where they stood.
The people inside the warehouse turned chanically and walked out in a daze.
Then Drex dropped to the ground.
He placed both hands on it and let his bio-field spread outward. The field wrapped itself around the entire warehouse.
With a slight pull, Drex ripped the whole structure out of the earth, roots and all.
At that mont, Wakanda finally realized sothing was wrong.
Alarms began to scream.
People from all around ca rushing toward the scene.
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