Marvel: The Enlightened One-Chapter 108: [] - Oil Summons the Military, Vibranium Summons the World! (Bonus)

Chapter 108: [108] - Oil Summons the Military, Vibranium Summons the World! (Bonus)

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Gwen hadn’t come back from Berkeley for the graduation yearbook or the student directory.

She had come back for one reason only. She needed to see with her own eyes that Hawk was unharmed.

After all—

A video had been leaked online yesterday.

Though the camerawork was so shaky it looked like it had been filmed by someone with Parkinson’s, the footage clearly showed a massive, monstrous creature on the African savanna, built like a black mountain.

It looked just like a blackened version of the Hulk.

And fighting it was another figure, so small in comparison it was like a mouse squaring off against an elephant.

The user who uploaded the video was supposedly a Japanese blogger, an adventurer who traveled between remote African tribes. He claimed to have stumbled upon the scene on his way to Wakanda.

The video was taken down in less than ten minutes.

Shortly after, the blogger posted a tearful apology, admitting he had faked the whole thing for clicks.

But—

Anyone with a brain knew better.

Gwen was certain. The blurry figure fighting the Demon Hulk in that video was her boyfriend.

So, even though Hawk had sounded perfectly fine on the phone, she couldn’t rest until she saw him for herself.

And now, seeing him, the knot of anxiety in her chest finally loosened. She smiled, took his arm, and they walked toward the airport parking lot.

...

A little while later, Hawk had stowed Gwen’s luggage in the trunk and was starting the car. He glanced at her in the passenger seat, already buckled in and watching him.

"So, how was Berkeley? Did you like it?"

"Honestly, not really."

Gwen shrugged as Hawk pulled out of the parking garage. "I used to think the crime rate in New York was bad. Turns out, Berkeley is even worse."

She told him she’d been nearly mugged three times—in broad daylight—all within just a few days in Berkeley.

But then, a relieved smile touched her lips.

"Good thing Kara was there."

"Kara?"

"The bodyguard you hired for me. Don’t tell me you don’t know her name."

"Oh, right. Her."

Hawk remembered.

Kara Palamas. Long brown hair, pretty face. She was the one Anna had recommended.

He hadn’t paid her much attention. The process didn’t matter—only the result.

Good or bad, it all fell on Anna’s head.

If Gwen was safe, he was grateful to Anna.

Likewise, if anything happened to Gwen, he’d only be looking for Anna, since she was the one who had vouched for Kara.

It was that simple.

He glanced at Gwen. "So, you still want to go to Berkeley?"

"Of course. I’ll be living in the dorms. I just won’t go off campus."

The crime in the city of Berkeley wasn’t the university’s problem. She was going there to study, not to live.

Gwen smiled, then changed the subject. "Okay, I’m done. Your turn. How was Africa?"

Hawk’s own lips curved into a smile. "Perfect."

Though this trip had been plagued with even more complications than his first one to Quantico, delaying him by half a month—

Good things come to those who wait.

His gains this time had been immense.

He had reforged his Cosmo into the Phoenix Cosmo, a power system more in line with the Marvel Universe.

He had also forged his Phoenix Armor.

And she was safe. As long as he was alive, until the day he went to Hell to bring her back, she would be fine.

Hawk glanced at Gwen and added with genuine satisfaction, "Couldn’t have been better."

"So what was the deal with that black Hulk?" Gwen’s question was immediate, perfectly timed.

"That was the Dem—" Hawk caught himself, a flicker of surprise in his eyes as he looked at her.

His brow arched. "You saw something?"

"You guess."

Gwen turned in her seat to face him, a gentle, knowing smile on her face. But she didn’t make him guess. She told him about the video, the one the Japanese blogger had posted and then been forced to retract.

Hawk listened, and it all made sense. Especially the part about the blogger.

It was a well-known fact, even in the Marvel Universe: Japanese tourists are everywhere. You can find one in every corner of the globe.

Hawk thought to himself, then met Gwen’s curious gaze and shrugged. "Alright. It was just like you saw in the video."

"So it really was the Hulk? But I thought you killed him."

Gwen’s brow furrowed as she remembered the battle at Culver Lake, just before last Christmas.

"Did Bruce Banner really find a way to bring him back?"

"Not exactly..." Hawk paused, then shook his head. "It would be more accurate to say the one who brought him back wasn’t Bruce Banner, but Mephisto."

Bruce had wanted to trade his life for the Hulk’s. But that deal would have been meaningless if Mephisto hadn’t agreed to it. After all, a soul that enters Hell belongs to Mephisto.

Gwen’s eyes widened at the name. "Mephisto? Is that the same Lord of Hell you were talking about in front of Anya’s grave?"

Hawk nodded. "The one and only."

He then explained the whole story: how Mephisto had taken the dead Hulk, given him a demonic upgrade, and sent him back to Earth to test his strength.

Gwen listened, her expression a mixture of shock and awe. "So you knew Bruce was coming for you. That’s why you went to Africa? Because it’s so remote, no one would see you fight?"

Hawk shook his head.

"No. I was looking for Vibranium."

"Vibran—"

As the realization dawned, Gwen was once again left speechless.

Hawk just laughed. "Wakanda. I was in Wakanda. That’s where the Vibranium is."

Gwen said nothing. She just pulled out her phone and with a few quick taps, brought up the public information on the nation of Wakanda.

...

"Wakanda: a small, underdeveloped nation with a fragile, resource-poor economy, ruled by a tribal coalition."

"UN Approves New Round of Food Aid to Wakanda to Avert Famine."

"UN Calls for Calm as Wakandan Tribal Conflicts Escalate, Warns of Refugee Crisis."

"Wakandan King T’Chaka Addresses UN, Pleads for Increased Economic Aid."

...

Gwen scrolled through the articles, then looked up at Hawk with complete bewilderment and skepticism written all over her face.

This place? You’re sure this is where the Vibranium is?

Hawk just smiled and, just as he had with Maria Hill, he revealed the truth about Wakanda: A secret, high-tech nation, sitting on a mountain of Vibranium, all while playing the part of a starving third-world country to milk the international community for aid.

Gwen was still scrolling through her phone. "You said Wakanda was exposed yesterday. I don’t see any news about it..."

"It’s not going to be that fast."

By now, they had arrived at Gwen’s apartment building. Hawk parked the car, got her luggage from the trunk, and they walked inside.

"It only happened yesterday. The World Security Council are probably still in meetings, figuring out how to carve it up. But one thing’s for sure...."

"What?"

"Oil has a funny way of attracting the U.S. military. What do you think a mountain of Vibranium will attract?"

"..."

Gwen didn’t answer. She didn’t have to.

The answer was obvious. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Oil brings soldiers. Vibranium brings the whole damn world.

...

Ten days later, a headline dominated the international news.

UNITED NATIONS — Citing escalating tribal conflicts and the deaths of hundreds of civilians, the UN Security Council has unanimously voted to deploy a joint peacekeeping force to Wakanda to restore peace and stability.

The uninformed masses, seeing the news, could only shake their heads with admiration.

The five most powerful nations in the world, all coming together to help one small, struggling country.

Wakanda must be the luckiest nation on Earth!

Their ancestral graves must be smoking with good fortune.

And they were.

...

Smoke was rising from Mount Bashenga, Wakanda’s sacred mountain that contained vast Vibranium reserves.

A S.H.I.E.L.D scientist stared at the readings on his tablet, his face flushed with an almost manic excitement.

"Commander."

"What have you got?"

"The reserves are... astronomical."

"Excellent."

The commander of the joint "peacekeeping" force let out a booming, unrestrained laugh, then immediately relayed the initial estimates of the Vibranium reserves back to his superiors.

Maria Hill was there as well.

She stood on the summit of Mount Bashenga, her gaze fixed on the futuristic, breathtaking capital city of Wakanda in the distance.

And outside that capital—

The roar of armored vehicles.

The rumble of tanks.

A squadron of fighter jets, formed by the joint forces of the five great powers, screamed in from the distance. A few air-to-ground missiles detonated in the sky above the Wakandan capital.

With the explosions, a golden dome of energy materialized over the city.

...

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