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The vote was barely over when Tony received the alert.
"They've greenlit the strike. Tactical withdrawal authorized. It's happening."
Even the command center at the rear line reacted immediately. U.S. carrier drones and support vessels began launching massive missile salvos, aiming to cover a full retreat.
---
"Push forward! Don't let them get away!"
W'Kabi's voice roared across the battlefield as the enemy lines broke. His eyes gleamed with manic triumph.
"The so-called mightiest nation on Earth? Pathetic. Wakanda is the true power!"
To him, this was more than war it was prophecy. Wakanda deserved global rule.
His warriors surged forward, many riding cyber-enhanced rhinos, spears in hand, pressing deep into the retreating American line.
"Don't pursue!" Tony yelled, turning to T'Challa.
"There's more coming. If they're retreating, it's only to regroup and we might not make it back if we follow them."
T'Challa's voice crackled through his mask, rage boiling over.
"They murdered my people. I will wipe them out!"
"They've authorized tactical nukes, T'Challa!" Tony snapped. "We have to return and fortify Wakanda's shield system now!"
T'Challa hesitated. Yes, Wakanda could survive a nuclear blast thanks to their vibranium dome but that wasn't the issue.
Tony continued, voice hard:
"It's not just the blast. Radiation. Contamination. Poisoned soil. Polluted rivers. You want to save Wakanda? Start thinking like a king."
But W'Kabi didn't hear any of this. Or perhaps he ignored it.
"This is my moment," he thought. "If I claim the biggest victory in this war, maybe I don't just serve the throne. Maybe I will become the throne."
---
Then… the sky split open again.
Tanks rolled from behind the U.S. line, their turrets spewing fire.
W'Kabi scoffed. "Primitive shells again? Pathetic. Shield wall NOW!"
But these weren't normal shells.
White phosphorus.
---
Boom.
The air lit up as fire roared across the battlefield, igniting everything.
It wasn't just heat it was chemical terror. Flames clung to skin and vibranium alike. Even energy shields struggled to resist the chemical bonding agents.
Some Wakandan warriors, barefoot and armored only in light mesh, screamed as fire licked up their legs.
W'Kabi froze.
"This… this isn't war. This is annihilation."
Explosions began behind them encirclement. U.S. forces had flanked them with phosphorus shells, and the inferno was spreading fast.
Back at the command tower, Shuri grimaced. "Deploy the stormships. Initiate artificial rainfall."
---
Wakanda's weather-control tech launched immediately ships flew overhead, deploying cold agents and cloud catalysts. But the African dry season was against them.
There simply weren't enough clouds.
Even high-tech couldn't make rain from nothing.
The fire raged on.
---
Ross, watching from a remote command center, grinned coldly.
"Should've brought more phosphorus."
To him, Wakanda was just another third-world pocket of stubborn resistance. Let it burn.
"Launch the jet squadrons. Now!" T'Challa ordered.
But before the jets could arrive—
BOOM.
Two figures slammed into the battlefield from the sky.
One unleashed cyclonic winds, rapidly twisting into a roaring tornado.
The other exhaled a wave of absolute cold, freezing the ground mid-charge.
Together, the wind and ice fused into a cryogenic storm vortex, sweeping across the phosphorus fields.
Fire died.
Ice coated the savannah.
---
Tony's HUD flickered. He smiled.
"They're here."
Charles Xavier's team had arrived.
Tony had contacted them in secret. At first, the X-Men had no reason to intervene this was Wakanda's war.
But then Ross used Sentinel's machines programmed to hunt mutants.
And that? That changed everything.
The arrival of the mutants turned the tide. The phosphorus fields were extinguished in seconds. The charred battlefield froze beneath a sheet of ice.
W'Kabi looked around, gasping.
His arrogance had nearly led his warriors into annihilation.
Now, shaken and ashamed, he began the retreat.
The U.S. military wasn't done.
But now… neither was mutantkind.
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