Batman had already lured Klaw—the monster of pure sound that Ulysses Klaue had transformed into—all the way into another valley.
There was no Vibranium vein beneath this area, so Batman didn't have to worry about the shockwaves from the Rogue Mech's heavy footsteps disrupting the precious metal below.
"Batman," Klaw's voice echoed through the valley, coming from all directions at once. "Did you know? When I transformed into this state, I heard so many sounds."
Klaw's body was currently a vibrant pinkish-purple. While such a color might look beautiful and lovely as an accent, seeing it cover his entire form made it utterly nauseating, especially combined with how his translucent, soundwave-composed body constantly pulsed, contorted, and rippled at the edges.
"I can hear the call of the Vibranium. I can hear the wailing of Wakanda. And I can hear your heartbeat—thump, thump—steady and powerful." Klaw's speech was composed entirely of grating, irritating noises. "Step aside. Don't block my path."
Batman shook his head, raising his hand to unleash a rapid barrage of Batarangs and explosives.
Fire, ice, toxic gas, solid gel, high-frequency ultrasonics, flashbangs, low-frequency infrasound...
Batman threw almost every gadget he had on him, useful or not, all at once.
Klaw split open his mouth—if the massive, gaping chasm could even be called a mouth—and burst into roaring laughter:
"It's useless! Entirely useless! You're getting desperate! You can't think of any way to stop me!"
Originally, Ulysses Klaue had only wanted to seize the Vibranium vein, wait for an opportunity to go to war with M'Baku, and subsequently take over Wakanda.
But after transforming into this monster, his ambitions had shifted.
He now wanted to use the Vibranium to continuously empower himself until no one could ever stand against him again.
However, Batman kept buzzing around him like an annoying insect, infuriating Klaw and successfully luring him into this adjacent valley, away from the Vibranium vein.
At this moment, he wanted nothing more than to crush the bothersome Dark Knight to death before making a peaceful return to the Vibranium mine.
"How about we make a deal?" Batman said, looking up at the hundred-meter-tall Klaw after throwing out his assortment of gadgets in what appeared to be a display of impotent rage.
"You want to make a deal with me?" Klaw laughed uproariously again. "Let's hear it. What kind of deal?"
"As far as I know, the international mercenaries you led into Wakanda number one hundred and thirty, excluding yourself. But aside from them, there has been a woman accompanying you the entire time. How much do you know about her? When did she join you?" Batman asked.
Klaw lowered his massive frame, bringing his head closer to Batman.
His head alone was larger than Batman's entire body, looking as though it could swallow the hero whole in a single gulp.
"Cackle..." Klaw let out a bizarre, grating laugh. "This is your deal?"
Remaining calm, Batman glanced at the location of the Rogue Mech displayed on his visor.
"So that's your deal." Klaw opened his mouth, his words formed by a cacophony of blaring horns, angry shouting, and weeping. "What do I get out of it?"
Batman fell silent for a second. He knew this situation was just like a negotiation; he absolutely could not make the decision on behalf of the other party.
Thus, Batman countered with a question:
"What do you want?"
Klaw grinned and laughed loudly. This time, the noises forming his speech shifted to crashing waves, rolling thunder, and the rhythmic beeping of an EKG monitor:
"I want the entire Vibranium mine!"
"You know that's impossible," Batman said. "Name another demand."
Thud!
As soon as Batman finished speaking, a faint, muffled thud echoed from the distance.
Batman possessed enhanced hearing derived from Peter Parker, while Klaw, being composed entirely of soundwaves, was naturally hyper-sensitive to audio frequencies.
The moment he heard the sound, Klaw looked toward the horizon, where the first pale light of dawn was beginning to break.
"Aside from the Vibranium mine, what else do you want?" Batman spoke again, drawing Klaw's attention away from the commotion caused by the Rogue Mech.
A hideous, distorted expression formed on what passed for Klaw's face:
"I want you dead!"
The primary reason Ulysses Klaue had become this sound monster was that Batman had rammed him with a shoulder tackle, sending him flying, before that witch hurled him directly into the Vibranium vein.
At the time, he hadn't even managed to turn off the sonic emitter on his arm. After absorbing a massive amount of soundwaves, the stable Vibranium deposit violently erupted, instantly vaporizing Ulysses' physical body.
Yet his consciousness endured, fusing with the soundwaves and the energy of the Vibranium explosion. This left him in his current form—a shapeless, nauseating mass of pinkish-purple energy.
The witch was nowhere to be found, but Batman was right in front of him.
Klaw instinctively blamed Batman as the culprit behind it all. Thrusting his hand forward, he unleashed a massive pillar of sound directly at the dark figure.
Whoosh!
Relying on his Grapnel Gun, Batman evaded the sonic pillar, but a follow-up shockwave composed of chaotic noise instantly bore down on him.
Batman was forced to dodge once more, left with absolutely no room to counterattack.
Gloating triumphantly, Klaw's silhouette warped and shifted as a portion of his mass surged into his hand, forming a scythe composed entirely of sonic waves.
He swept the massive sonic scythe low across the ground like he was mowing grass, forcing Batman to leap dozens of meters into the air.
To Klaw, it felt as though he were merely toying with a grasshopper.
Unfortunately for him, this grasshopper could do more than just jump—it could fight back.
The heavy, rumbling thuds echoing from the horizon grew closer and faster. No longer distinct individual bursts, they converged into a continuous, thunderous roar.
Just as Klaw was relentlessly pursuing Batman, the Rogue Mech finally arrived at the scene.
"What on earth is that?!" The Wakandans who had been pursuing the Rogue Mech looked up at the hundred-meter-tall sound monster, terror flashing across their faces.
"I don't know, but at least we know why this mech came here..."
A Wakandan wearing noticeably more animal teeth around his neck than the others watched the bat-like silhouette leap over ten meters into the air and slip inside the mech. "It's here to fight that monster!"
Inside the mech's cockpit, Batman quickly strapped into a specially designed seat—one built so that he could still operate the controls despite the mech's expansion via Pym Particles.
—Batman had engineered two separate piloting systems for the Rogue Mech. One was standard-sized, which had grown along with the mech's enlargement and was now unusable for a regular human-sized Batman.
The other was a miniaturized control system that, after being magnified, was now the perfect size for manual operation.
Whir~
Accompanied by a series of hydraulic braking hisses, the mech—originally forged for total warfare—officially entered combat mode.
"The only significant energy signature is coming from your coordinates, Batman. I see you are engaging that creature."
"I suggest switching from Plan 12 to Plan 7."
From a hidden corner within the Golden City of Wakanda, T'Challa transmitted the message to Batman. Upon receiving Batman's confirmation, he immediately turned and sprinted toward the Wakandan broadcast tower.
Wakandans had their own television programs and entertainment; even though M'Baku had installed himself as the current king, daily life for the average citizen still had to go on.
Consequently, inside the broadcast building beneath the tower, the Wakandan host live in the studio froze in utter shock when the door burst open to reveal the Black Panther clad in his Vibranium suit.
"I am T'Challa," he said, removing his mask and nodding to the news anchor.
The host stared blankly for two seconds, his eyes widening as realization Vitally dawned on him. He scrambled to vacate his seat and quickly adjusted the camera to focus squarely on the unmasked T'Challa.
"Brothers and sisters of Wakanda."
T'Challa looked into the lens, his eyes burning with an intense love for his country and profound hatred for its invaders:
"I am T'Challa, son of T'Chaka, the former King of Wakanda and Protector of our nation, the Black Panther."
"Two weeks ago, my father—your King—was murdered. The killer was Ulysses Klaue, an invader coveting our Vibranium. And the man who opened our borders to let the enemy march right in is the very person you now call 'King'."
Across the cities of Wakanda, screens everywhere abruptly cut to the live feed of T'Challa in the studio. Like a rapid copy-paste command, his image instantly took over every single monitor in front of the Wakandan people.
"M'Baku sits upon my father's throne, but he is not your king. He is a traitor. He bought that seat with the blood of Wakandans."
"I know what you are thinking: the Golden City is under his control, the mining district is occupied by Klaue, and our kin are held hostage. You are afraid. You are waiting."
From the Border Tribe to the Mountain Tribe, from the mining district to the edges of the Golden City, the people of Wakanda stared at the displays before them, looking at the familiar face of their former prince, T'Challa, waiting for what would come next.
T'Challa did not disappoint them:
"But I tell you now, my ally is fighting Ulysses Klaue's mercenaries as we speak. His hostages are free, and the man who calls himself 'King' is currently cowering in the palace, waiting for me to find him."
"I am not here to beg you to follow me. I am here to tell you..."
"At sunrise tomorrow, I will march into the Golden City. I will stand in the palace that rightfully belongs to my father, before the throne that has been defiled. I will not ask anyone to fight for me."
"But if there are still Wakandans who remember the meaning of dignity, the meaning of honor, and what this land we have protected for generations truly stands for..."
"Then at sunrise, stand behind me."
"For Wakanda!"
A deathly silence fell over all of Wakanda. Then, from the Border Tribe to the Mountain Tribe, from the mining district to the edges of the Golden City, countless Wakandans silently stood up, clenching their fists.
They did not cheer. They simply waited—waiting for the dawn to arrive.
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