“More to the point,” Storm went on in the face of the very grim Wakandan royals, “the Badoon know about your vibranium after they infiltrated the Sentinel code networks, and the records of your probable supply was on computer records there. The Sentinels themselves were intending to move on you once they were assured of victory, in order to make some nigh-invincible models.

“This number means that if the Badoon crack the planet and destroy every other natural resource, slaves, iron planetary core, water, whatever... they still come out ahead, and then have the wherewithal to build a nigh-invincible fleet of kinetic-absorbing, energy-deflecting, vibranium-hulled vessels that will fuel their dreams of conquest for thousands of years.”

Storm paused to let that sink into the aghast royals. “Your Majesties, you cannot defend against this, because you cannot defend the entire planet. You will have to stop any attempt at planet-cracking anywhere on the planet, in addition to any methods launched from the high orbitals or beyond.

“And even if you do succeed... you will fail.”

T’Challa was anything but an idiot. “The other galactic empires will be watching,” he stated with certain understanding. “They will see our defense, and wonder why the Badoon are so focused upon us, and wonder how they missed our capabilities. They will investigate, or their spies will find out, and then...” He looked at Nakia.

“They will ALL come here, and they will battle over the prize, while our world is reduced to rubble beneath them,” his queen breathed out, visualizing the results. “Even if we could shield Wakanda or our people... they will merely destroy the whole planet to get what they want, and Wakanda will perish, as well.”

Storm and I both nodded slowly. “They have completely infiltrated your computer networks,” I informed them, and their dark skin paled further. “Do not be surprised. They have been a space-faring culture for a hundred thousand years. While the vast majority of their people don’t understand their own technology, they still have some who do, and the potential of that technology is generations beyond you.

“No, typical Badoon technology could not have infiltrated your network, but the prize here is great enough that they went to extreme efforts, basically subverting your computer code at the quark level and monitoring all the interlinked technology in your entire nation.

“If you start making preparations against them now, they may well launch their invasion a bit early, just to secure the vibranium. If they can take the rest of the planet as a cover story, that would be icing on the cake.”

T’Challa took a deep breath, and sat back, staring at the two of us. “Why,” he asked slowly, “do I feel the two of you have a solution to this problem?”

I just nodded slowly. “Allow me to steal it from you.”

The royals twitched, despite themselves, the range of many emotions passing over their faces as I spoke so casually about taking away the very heart of Wakanda’s power. Everything their people had was built upon discoveries related to their vibranium!

“I will leave enough traces behind to justify the amounts that you have removed for your personal weaponry, armor, and the like. But I will abscond with the primary meteor and veins entirely, removing the threat entirely, and you will only have to deal with a conventional slave-taking invasion of the Badoon.”

“Husband, we cannot...” Nakia began, and T’Challa gave her a look which silenced her instantly.

“Will you tell us where you will take it?” he asked in a perfunctory manner.

I gestured at the number in the air. “That number is worth more than every living soul on the planet, including yourselves. The Badoon will want that knowledge. If you do not have it, they cannot find it, nor can anyone else. It must be stolen before they can get their hands on it.”

“And what will you do with our vibranium, once you have it?” Queen Nakia demanded, definitely angry and frustrated at us. “We do not even know if your claims are true, and you expect us to trust you with that which has made Wakanda what it is?!”

Neither of us were affronted at all. “Well, I definitely won’t leave 1.6 million tons of vibranium around doing nothing,” I acknowledged dryly, and they both grimaced at the accuracy of the number. “Moreover, I’m fully capable of taking it all from you whether you like it or not, and given the threat to all of humanity and the planet itself, perfectly justified in doing so by any argument of morality you care to start using.” The queen flushed despite herself. “Indeed, that may well have been the better option in this case, informing yourselves after the fact telepathically.

“We are being polite. I do not require your help, assistance, or agreement to do this. I am capable of obliterating this entire city with a Word, and I would do so if it means saving the rest of the planet.”

They looked back and forth between Storm and I, suddenly realizing who was indeed the more powerful person here.

“Forgive me, but we know nothing of the two of you, your reputations, or your history. Without some proof, this is just a tale you are telling us, and a very suspicious one, at that.” Yet T’Challa glanced at the numbers again and winced. “We do not even know if the tales you are telling of the infiltration of our systems is true...”

“I intend to crash your entire network when I depart with the vibranium. The Badoon will send down a stealth team to investigate what happens when the suborned code is wiped.” I pulled out a data module and handed it over to him. “I took the liberty of copying your entire data library and primary programming systems. You should be able to rebuild your entire network within an hour.”

Their incredulous expressions were not hard to decipher. “Xandaran code is a level beyond the Badoon,” I informed them blithely.

“The... the Xandarans are believed to be extinct,” T’Challa said hesitantly.

“That is a very convenient thing for people to believe,” I agreed with a nod. “As to whether or not the Badoon are coming, if you will lower your mental shields and take my hand?”

I set my hand on the table. The two of them looked at one another, took deep breaths, and reached out to lay their hands on my own.

I linked up and fed them my Cosmic Awareness.

They gasped as my attention was immediately thrown out beyond the planet, into galactic space. They suddenly grasped the breadth of the Badoon Empire, the hundreds of worlds it had colonized, the dozens of species it had subjugated as slaves, and the sheer power and energy it possessed, even if it was stagnant, rife with internal conflicts, and had not advanced in tens of thousands of years.

It was so big that it did not matter... and it was only a tenth of the size of the Skrulls, perhaps on par with the Kree in size, although the Kree were far more organized and sophisticated.

There, the shipyards where slaveships were being built. Over here, where new warships for the task were being laid. In this place, where the invasion plans were being drawn up for the whole of the Sol System. In that one, where records of hundreds of similar invasions existed, making it plain this was a very normal thing for the Badoon to do to less-developed and weaker species.

In quiet chambers with no records, where Badoon lords whispered of a treasure trove of galactic significance on this planet that had just killed off many of its own best defenders in internal strife.

The time was ripe, but they could not be too eager. They needed to secure their victory against the unsuspecting mammals without betraying anything, and thus follow the normal protocols, leaving nothing to suspect the true end target.

Only one of the other Empires of size could intervene to save the Earth, and for the vibranium, it was worth the risk, using the excuse to crack the planet in spite and abscond with the prize, if need be.

My Awareness plummeted back down to Earth, Wakanda, and to their own computer systems. The abrupt change in scale was only made greater by the fact that the scale wasn’t all that different after I went down to the quark level of the vast computer network. The reeling royals looked at the manipulated quark coding that made up their own overarching machine language, essentially the building blocks of electrons subverted and forming code inside their own code, making up their network out of the language of their infiltrators.

And it was indeed everywhere, including the systems of the Dora Milaje, and even his own vibranium body armor!

They both gasped and staggered back, staring at me in shock and awe at the very fact I could comprehend all of that, and had merely filtered it for them to understand at their level.

“TRUTH,” I said calmly, and their hearts, minds, and souls shook with the unassailable belief that everything I had shown them was not a lie.

They stared at me, wondering exactly who and what I was, and I stared back at them calmly.

-------

An hour later, there was an explosion of cosmic and magical energy from the mines of Wakanda, once thought buried securely and stealthily from all outside observation. Pretty much every spy satellite, mystic, and powerful figure on the planet detected it, let alone the carefully watching Badoon spy satellites in orbit.

The blast of energy wiped clean the Wakandan computer systems, generating no end of temporary problems, but their advanced engineers had their computers up and running again in but an hour. However, the injected Badoon code was gone, and residual cosmic energies in the area rendered the quick attempt to re-establish spying impossible at that level.

A stealth team was sent down urgently to infiltrate in person, using their prior mapping of the Wakandan systems to do so artfully. It was hardly a tough job to do so, as a measure of panic was spreading through the entire government and security forces of the nation.

Their vibranium was gone!

Preliminary investigations showed that only the most minor veins of the fantastic metal remained in the formerly extensive mines. Pictures were soon leaking out on Wakanda’s internet, showing where vast amounts of rock and metal were simply gone, vanished cleanly, impossibly smooth surfaces left where once had been the bedrock and foundation of the country.

There were attempts to close off the mine and restrict the information, but the Badoon still entered the area and verified all the details for themselves, including the extremely high-order cosmic energies which were still subtly dispersed through the area and playing enough havoc with their systems that part of the team was compromised. They ended up engaged in combat with crazed Wakandan security forces, which did not go well.

That, and they were promptly blamed for the theft!

Consternation warred with amusement at the very idea of a speck of a terrestrial barbarian nation taking them as enemies because of the theft... which they were actually innocent of, but nobody was going to truly believe that, including their peers in the galactic empires.

In any event, it didn’t stop their build-up for the invasion, as even the best spies of their rivals would be unable to actually discern what, if anything, they’d done with so much vibranium, and so they simply continued on with the plans that were known and being ignored. The Milky Way was their home galaxy, after all, and while others might meddle in it, if there was proper cause, by and large they did not care what the Badoon did in their home ground.

But that was all Storm’s problem now, and that Earth was going to have a very different, Afrocentric future before it.

The Sanctuary Ship pulsed with cosmic energies, and the mutants aboard were sent away, across a time and space link which solidified into a dimensional one, reappearing on Venus to start their new lives.

It remained behind, to succor those who might also need to flee their homeworld, cloaked at a level even the Badoon wouldn’t be able to detect easily, watching and waiting to do its job.