Without waiting for Killian to say anything, Sevin started driving.
To be fair, he had clearly put serious work into this. Even on the rough, uneven roads of this part of Africa, the ride inside the vehicle barely felt that bad to Killian.
"Good. So how's the salary the company's giving you now? Is it enough?"
Looking at Sevin in the driver's seat, Killian asked.
"It's enough. More than enough. The company's covering my brother and sister's tuition now, and they even live and eat at school. My salary is fifty thousand dollars a month. Maya actually said she wanted to raise it again, but I turned it down. Honestly, I can't even spend what I already make."
"And I'm at the company every day without really doing much. Most months, all I do is cooperate with a few blood draws, train a little, and stay on standby. I already feel uneasy taking what I make now."
"That's why when I heard you needed people on this trip, boss, I volunteered right away."
"If this keeps going, I really won't know how to repay you."
When he said that, Sevin's face carried a quiet, sincere smile.
Truthfully, in all his years of life, he had never met a boss like Killian, someone who took care of his people and treated them with genuine kindness.
Even the people who marched around shouting slogans about charity and justice had usually just looked straight through him and walked on.
He had seen more than enough indifference in those days.
But now things were different.
His salary was higher than that of many white-collar workers. His life had been put back together. His younger siblings were growing up healthy.
To him, that was already enough.
"Don't talk about repaying me. You earned this with your own effort. Honestly, I was impressed you managed to bring that many kids all the way to Florida in the first place."
"People who work hard don't get abandoned forever."
"Believe in yourself, Sevin. Your life's only going to get better."
"And once the Extremis program matures inside the company, I'll make sure your brothers and sisters with disabilities get treated first."
Killian answered with a relaxed smile.
At the side, Alice listened with her bright eyes wide open.
Little by little, the image she had of the man beside her, this "boss," seemed to grow more complete.
"Yes, boss. I believe you."
Sevin nodded heavily.
The inside of the vehicle gradually fell quiet again as the convoy continued along the damaged road.
Alice sat there blinking with curiosity, taking in the outside world for what felt like the first time.
Looking out the window, she saw long stretches of yellow earth on both sides of the road after leaving the airport area, nothing like the wide concrete roads around the company back in America.
There were only scattered simple structures here and there, and very few mid-rise or tall buildings in sight.
And as they drove farther from the airport, even proper houses became harder to spot.
At first, Alice thought she might feel sympathy.
But after seeing the condition of the roads, the lack of sanitation, and the extreme poverty all around them, that emotion became something quieter and more complicated.
What she felt most clearly was discomfort.
Along the road and beside it were signs of neglect everywhere, and when curiosity got the better of her and she cracked the window open slightly, a foul smell rushed in so strongly that she immediately shut it again.
In the end, the place gave her one clear impression.
Dirty, chaotic, and badly neglected.
Her nose wrinkled without her even realizing it.
Other than that, though, one thing did stand out to her.
Pedestrians and vehicles alike actually moved aside when they saw their convoy coming. Unlike the traffic she had seen in the U.S., where cars were always cutting across one another, movement here felt oddly more straightforward.
That was probably the one positive impression she took from it.
"It's like this in a lot of places around here. You'll get used to it after you've seen enough."
Looking at the way Alice was reacting, Killian couldn't help reaching over and gently rubbing her dark hair.
He had seen enough about places like this in his previous life through documentaries, news reports, and endless online discussion. Even without coming here before, he had a rough idea of how harsh conditions could be.
But for a little girl who had not even been "alive" for a full year, the shock was bound to hit harder.
"I will."
Feeling that familiar warmth again, Alice bared her teeth in a bright smile.
As the vehicles kept moving, more scenes of local life gradually came into view, and several of them were startling enough to leave everyone inside the convoy staring.
Some cars were barely still cars at all, running with only the essential parts still functioning, patched together however their owners could manage.
There were also battered vans so overloaded they looked like they should have collapsed long ago, yet somehow they still moved. Vehicles that should have carried ten people were packed with twenty or thirty instead.
Then came the buses.
People got off before they had even fully stopped, and those trying to board would jog alongside and jump on while they were still rolling.
And somehow, despite all that, traffic still kept moving.
After more than an hour of witnessing one surreal local scene after another, the convoy finally arrived at the giant Salva Dock.
In the distance stood several enormous ocean-going ships that had long since been retired, then hauled here and repurposed into makeshift factories and fortified bases.
Even from far away, Killian could already see dark smoke continuously rolling out from inside those rusting hulls.
Given the terrain, it really was an excellent place for a stronghold.
Looking over the muddy stretch leading toward the dock, Killian could tell that unless someone brought in long-range artillery, there was no easy way to strike the ships directly. And in this region, most local armed groups mainly carried rifles like AKs, with very limited heavy firepower.
No wonder Ulysses Klaue had managed to turn this place into his kingdom and build an arms trade around it.
As their convoy paused near the dock, an outer patrol unit spotted them and began walking over with AKs raised.
For a place like this, AKs had plenty of flaws and were looked down on by elite military units elsewhere, but one thing could not be denied: they were simple, direct, reliable, and hard to kill.
"Hey. What are you doing here? If you don't have business, leave. Now."
Once they got close enough, the man in front looked over the armored vehicles, then at the people inside, swallowed whatever curse he had nearly let out, and forced himself to speak more carefully.
Hearing that, Sevin glanced back at Killian. After seeing him give a small nod, Sevin opened the door, got out, and started speaking to the man in a calm, professional tone.
"Boss, someone's here. They say they had an appointment."
"Oh, and they say they came from America."
After taking in Sevin's presence and the mounted weapon visible on the armored vehicle, the patrolman hesitated, then finally pulled out a radio and reported in.
"Bring them over. Disarm them first."
Klaue's voice came back at once.
After relaying the reply, the patrolman spread his hands helplessly and looked at the bald man in front of him with obvious caution.
For some reason, his instincts told him the man was dangerous.
Sevin was about to say something else, but Killian had already stepped out with several of his escorts.
After being checked with a metal detector, the group of six was taken onward under armed supervision, crossing by speedboat while two men and two women remained behind to guard the vehicles.
What nobody noticed, however, was the faint purple shimmer beginning to seep out from the two men left at the dock.
...
"So you're the ones who want to buy Vibranium?"
Inside the repurposed ship, after being led deeper in, Killian and the others were finally met by Ulysses Klaue himself, who stood above them in the captain's section, looking down through the transparent barrier as he spoke.
"Of course. Although I have to say, the way you're greeting your guests doesn't exactly feel like the work of a qualified businessman."
Killian ignored the armed men around him who were still pointing weapons at his group and answered with his usual polished smile.
"A qualified businessman? That's for real buyers."
"You don't look like that to me. I never told the outside world I had Vibranium. So who the hell sent you?"
At first Klaue sounded almost reasonable.
Then his voice exploded into a roar.
The instant their boss shouted, his men chambered their weapons and shifted their fingers closer to the triggers, ready to fire the moment he gave the word.
As far as Klaue was concerned, the fact that he had Vibranium was something he had never openly admitted to anyone.
He had not even sold it directly.
So if these people knew about it and had come looking for him, then to him there was only one possibility.
Wakanda.
The retrieval teams.
The only question was whether these Americans were bait thrown out by Wakanda, or some new outside operatives recruited to help.
After all, Klaue had slaughtered an entire settlement to get his hands on that shipment of Vibranium. He knew better than anyone what would happen if Wakanda locked onto his location.
That was why he had never dared sell the material in any direct, traceable way. Even when he did move tiny amounts of it, he worked through endless layers of intermediaries and filtered buyers over and over before finally letting one tiny amount go through, and even then only in grams.
"Relax, Ulysses. Trust me. If I were with the people you're thinking of, then we wouldn't be the ones standing here right now. You know what their tech looks like."
Killian began climbing upward toward him as though he were taking a casual walk through a garden.
The gun barrels trained on him seemed not to exist.
"You know about them too?"
Klaue frowned.
"Of course. A powerful people, but a badly distorted one."
"Trust me, they're not beyond dealing with. Sooner or later, I'll take what I want from them too."
By the time he reached the upper level, Killian leaned casually against the railing and answered as though the conversation were perfectly relaxed.
"Not beyond dealing with?"
Klaue sneered.
"What I'm looking at is a man whose life is in my hands right now. So forgive me if I'm not seeing the part where that confidence is supposed to come from."
Hearing the arrogance in Killian's tone, he only grew more contemptuous.
Maybe the man had some tricks.
Maybe he had courage.
But Klaue had seen enough of Wakanda to know that if they truly decided to come for someone, survival usually meant running.
And the man in front of him was currently standing in a room full of guns.
"Are you sure?"
Snap.
Killian gave him a half-smile and flicked his fingers.
When Klaue came back to himself a second later, his men were all dropping to the floor one after another without even understanding what had happened.
The moment Klaue tried to raise his own pistol in response, Sevin, the bald man from earlier, launched himself forward, smashed straight through the bulletproof glass, and clamped a burning hand over the weapon.
Klaue watched in horror as the gun began melting in front of his eyes.
In seconds, it collapsed into glowing liquid metal, dripping to the floor with a vicious hiss.
Even Klaue, who had seen Wakandan technology up close, felt genuine fear rise in his chest as he backed into the wall.
"Trust me, Mr. Klaue. I came here in absolute sincerity."
"Otherwise you and your people wouldn't have survived the moment those guns were raised at me."
With Sevin holding Klaue in place, Killian stepped through the ruined entryway and approached at an easy pace, wearing that same familiar smile.
Truthfully, Killian hated having guns pointed at him.
Every time it happened, he had to resist the urge to order the people responsible ripped apart.
But he also understood something else.
What made human beings more dangerous than animals was not only their use of tools.
It was the ability to restrain themselves.
Wanting something was easy.
Controlling that urge was what was difficult.
Killian had spent a long time binding himself with exactly that kind of discipline.
He knew that in a world where he had no real roots, no family, and no restraints other than what he imposed on himself, letting the worst parts of him run free would be disastrous, not just for the world, but for him too.
If you wanted to destroy something, first you drove it mad.
There was a reason old wisdom lasted.
"Who... who the hell are you people?"
Klaue looked from Killian to Sevin's still-sparking hand and asked through tight breath.
"No. I'm the one asking questions."
"I'll say this one last time. I came all the way from America to this filthy corner of the world for one reason."
"Vibranium."
"Do not make me repeat myself."
Killian tilted his head slightly and let the threat settle into every word.
"Okay. Wait here."
Seeing that the situation had fully turned against him, Klaue gave in.
Because he understood something very clearly.
If he dragged this out, the man in front of him really would kill him.
And in a place like this, no one cared about justice. If he died, he died. Even if his men watched it happen, they would not avenge him. They would pick a new leader and keep going.
So under Killian's near-tangible killing intent, Klaue quickly moved toward one of the walls. After pressing several hidden mechanisms, a sharp click echoed through the room.
Then part of the wall opened.
Rising from within were multiple refrigerated storage canisters, each filled with the silver-gray metal Killian had come for.
Vibranium.
The hardest metal on Earth.
Killian casually picked up one container.
The cold weight of it settled immediately into his hand.
Inside was the material he had wanted for a very long time.
A quick glance told him enough.
The larger storage units behind it held roughly two hundred fifty kilograms total.
Klaue had not lied.
This was the full stock.
"I really don't want to say this, but those weren't easy to get."
"Since your target really is this stuff, then let's be clear. What you're looking at is worth billions."
The moment Klaue realized that Killian's group had truly come for the Vibranium and nothing else, his attitude shifted at once.
He touched his neck, steadied himself, and stepped forward again.
He was still a desperate, ruthless man.
He had spilled blood to get this metal. He had slaughtered Wakandans for it.
If Killian thought he could simply walk in, take it, and leave, then Klaue would rather be killed outright than accept that without a fight.
(End of Chapter)
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