Chapter 19 : Project "Blessed" (Patreon)

Disclaimer - I don’t own Marvel/Disney IP. I am just a humble keyboard warrior. Also, the Chaos Gacha was made by Bronz here. I am just dipping my toe in the water, so to speak.

–Mike–

For gaining the attention of Kamar Taj and Ancient One, Gold X1

For entering the Mirror Dimension for the first time, Bronze X1

He rolled his eyes at the obvious before rolling both the tickets, in the process of wrapping a rather long leaf he found, around his midsection. He did not want to walk around these parts hanging, especially with some of the bigger insects he had seen so far. It did not matter that they would die before successfully piercing his skin, but the very thought was…unsettling.

[The Courier's Stash]

|Common Item|

Fallout - A stash every courier needs to have around just in case they get robbed, shot in the head, and left for the dead. This large briefcase contains a lightweight metal armour, a double-barrel shotgun with 20 packs of 20 shells, 4 basic repair kits, and 5 stim packs.

As expected, nothing that was useful for him, except the stim packs, and that too depended heavily on their efficiency. Whether they could heal a high tier being like him or someone like an Asgardian, or if they were just for normies, remained to be seen. Something to experiment with when he had either injured humans around him or had injured him somewhat.

Also, it was a one use item, which made the rather small sample size practically useless for experimentation. Sighing, he looked forward to what the Gold got him, something useful, he hoped.

[The Taker]

|Elite Trait|

"You wake up with a dream, a harem full of... what the fuck?" You are the Taker, all beings that are either Infernal, Holy, or Divine who you are attracted to find themselves more attracted to you, and it is easier to earn their affection.

He stopped mid step, looking at the trait, finding it entirely useless right now but perhaps something that could be useful later on. Even if going all the way with someone who was, for all intents and purposes, mind controlled in some way was repulsive, he could just string them along to get something useful out of them.

The only who you are attracted to concept made it hard for it to work on everyone since he was straight as an arrow, but something that could prove to be useful, if he was desperate enough to use it anyway. As things stood, there were few things that could threaten a Thunderbird with a Ghidorah behind him, at least on Earth anyway. Not to mention the higher tier tickets he would receive from the Chaos generated from Ghidorah, further pushing his power levels, provided he did not get useless rolls like the ones he got right now.

Shaking his head, he moved on, trying to get past the forest that was past the clearing the Ancient One had sent him into. His original plan involved somehow finding Klaue, getting the Vibranium, and delivering both to Wakanda, so as to get a conversation going at the very least. He knew that his decision would lead to a fight, but he was confident in defeating the Black Panther, but Bast coming in to defeat him was not something he had expected.

In hindsight, that was the first thing that should have put him off from using Wakanda as the staging ground for Ghidorah. He had expected stuff to be like the MCU, where Bast was barely a shadow of her peak self, surviving in a Spiritual Realm, and was only involved when someone ingested the Heart Shaped Herb. That was stupid of him.

Just like many other things in this universe, he should have expected stuff to be different here as well. Way different if the inclusion of Mutants, the Phoenix Force, and more to come was taken into consideration.

Now, he was not really sure if he should go through all the trouble in Wakanda, especially since the other option of just not giving a f*ck and letting the world witness Ghidorah in all his glory was becoming more appealing, especially since that would give him an influx of high tier tickets, resulting in a potentially quicker power up, as compared to the slow and steady approach that was Wakanda.

Knowing that flying around naked was not the appropriate way to approach Wakanda, not to mention he now wasn't sure if he even wanted to go to Wakanda, simply because the Ancient One seemed to be supportive of the endeavour, he began floating up and began his search for the newest door. 

If was to do something that would upend the global power balance, he would need to do it dressed. Not dressed properly, mind you, since the Pocket Beach Dimension did not have any three piece suit, let alone one that would fit him, but a T-shirt and shorts was certainly accessible to him.

Also, she might not be as useful as she was previously, but it wouldn’t hurt to have Alcina by his side, especially since now he could finally undo some of the harsher restrictions and cultivate a relationship with her on equal terms, especially since he had made liberal use of the [Mystic Eyes] on her.

Flying close to the forests, he began gaining speed, finding the feeling of air hitting his face exhilarating, as his eyes continued to look for any civilization nearby. From his experience, even a half rotten door should work as the doorway to his pocket dimension, provided the door could still open and close. 

Seeing the mountain in the distance, in front of the large clearing full of long grass, he was about to head up, to see if any settlement existed around the mountain, but then he froze, stopping instantly, absentmindedly noting the absolute lack of any harmful effect of inertial forces, as his senses told him something.

Something that had him instantly dropping down into the forest, floating on top of a branch, as he looked towards the mountain, trying to make out if any suspicious people were nearby, guarding the Border of a country he suspected to be nearby.

After all, his [Sensory] trait had begun sending him all sorts of signals, telling him that multiple high intensity energies were present in the middle of that mountain, some floating higher up as well, higher than even the peak of the mountain.

Then, there were the other senses that were far more sensitive. His senses as a Thunderbird allowing him to sense the flow of air in a limited area, provided the disturbance was significant. He shouldn’t be able to sense anything smaller than a bullet going at very high speeds, but from what he was sensing, air was hitting a very large area and just stopping, as if all its momentum was robbed.

Camouflage in the form of a Mountain and trees? Check.

Big clearing in front of the camouflaged area, with nothing but yellowing grass for miles on end? Check.

Big cloaked area that was shielded from the outside environment, such that even air could not get inside? Check.

Mix and mash of different energies of very high intensity? Check.

All of this in a tropical area that was suspiciously similar to Africa? Check and Check

All that was left after this was if a super advanced piece of technology that would come after him and confirm his suspicions, that this was indeed—--

He leaned his neck to the side, sighing as he watched what was most probably a tranq dart hit and penetrate the bark of the tree to an alarming degree, hit by something that was roughly the size of a dog that was floating behind him with no voice whatsoever.

“....Wakanda.”

Wait a minute, did they really just use a tranq dart that would have drilled clean into a normal human’s neck?

___xx__

War Room, Wakanda

–T’Chaka–

He gripped the arm of his throne tighter as the safest and best option they had on hand to deal with the rising threat of mutants around the world failed, very easily at that.

Over the years, Wakanda had created multiple countermeasures to deal with the ever growing number of people who could grow strong enough to threaten major parts of the world, with most of them centering around exploiting the one weakness that most of these powerful mutants had in common.

Their vulnerable bodies. After all, while they could manipulate thousands of minds with their abilities, call upon lightning strike after strike with a thought, bend metal to their will to the point that destroying modern cities was possible, and blast lasers that could, in theory, even overwhelm Vibranium’s ability to absorb energy, they all had decidedly human bodies.

A well placed bullet or tranquiliser dart, if one had to be humane about it, would be all it takes to take a majority of these threats, corroborated with Wakanda’s internal experience with mutans, or as they liked to call the Wakandans who awoke the X-gene, the Blessed.

Of course, they had other strategies to deal with them as well, but most of them were centered around the assurance that all of this would be done on foreign lands, not on their front door. Somehow, this Mike, someone who does not exist as far as the world is concerned, had teleported himself all the way from New York to Wakanda, without any energy emissions whatsoever. 

They had multiple ways to track teleporting abilities, as they had made that their number one priority to figure out a way to stop them from bypassing their shields, but none of them worked.

And now, because of that, they were now going to have to deal with a very powerful mutant who just uttered something that made his blood run cold.

“....Wakanda.”

Immediately standing up, he ordered, "Mobilise the Border Tribe wartime Weapons. Hold off on any action until the war weapons reach them. I repeat: Do not engage without wartime weaponry.”

He then turned to Okoye, “Get me the Dora Milaje. Everyone.

“B-But My King!” OKoye exclaimed, falling in step with him as he headed to the Armoury, to get the newest generation of armours, a step he hadn’t taken yet because he was attached to his current armour and in some ways, did not think deserve the best, as he served that for his son.

Now, it would seem that choice was taken out of his hands, as Okoye continued, “Some of the newer members are not done with their training. We could risk losing them and exposing–”

He winced, stopped, and after taking a deep breath to calm the shame, guilt, and rage he felt at the program, turned to Okoye, “Fine. Get only the ones who have completed atleast 5 years in the program, unless you feel they can be of help in the fight.”

A profound look of disgust flashed across Okoye’s face as she accepted his orders and ran to the most important and the most shameful facility in all of Wakanda.

The place where the newest generation of Dora Milaje are trained. A new addition, built twenty years ago, as a way to integrate the Blessed into a command structure that he was most comfortable with, and that meant not letting any Blessed remain in any of the tribes. They were all inducted into the Dora Milaje, forcibly if need be. He gave the populace no other option.

In his hubris, he called it the Project: Blessed, a way to help Wakandans get a new purpose, to serve their homeland in ways they never could have, to increase Wakanda’s power and serve on the frontlines, go on missions, and become celebrated.

He snorted at that, how naive he was.

The program had run as expected at first, introducing the members who had been partially shunned by society and putting them together with people who had similar struggles and could be of help to each other.

The government would help them get the community they needed, the Blessed would come to value the community and get the desire to help their country, and Wakanda would get valuable soldiers capable of doing things no other normal person could.

No matter how one looked at it, it was supposedly a win. 

In an ideal world, it would have been. Alas, they did not live in one.

Past experiences. Prior allegiance to Tribes. Greed. Anger at the world, at the government, at their parents, at themselves, at their powers. Mentally imbalanced individuals with volatile powers. Extreme Ambitions. Ambitions towards the Throne. 

And more, all of these issues began popping up one after the other, and as a result of that, new policies had to be instituted at the training facilities, ones that led to the monstrosity that was Project Blessed today.

His paranoia, the Council’s refusal to do away with the Might makes right ritual for King, and his desire to protect his family from any future violent uprising by one of the Blessed, eventually led him to take decisions that further increased the distance between him and his family, even when they only knew of the tamer stuff that happens in that facility.

If they truly knew what really went down in that facility, he was sure that he would be deposed by the very people he called his family, even though all he did was for his family.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that. If it helps you ignore the crying children, the emotionless soldiers, and the separated families, then go for it.

Ignoring his mind that continues to torment him to this day, he donned his new armour, double checked the location of T’Challa and the others before heading out. He was truly glad that T’Challa had a childhood friend who was both Blessed enough to take out the Black Panther if need be and loyal to the Monarchy to a fault, to the point that he would rather die than disobey the Monarchy. 

Zenshu was probably the only reason T’Challa was in the bunker instead of heading towards him and the problem.

Zenshu, yet another victim of your child soldier brainwashing program. You think he would have been the same had he not been inducted into the program at 7 years old?

Once again, ignoring his mental voice, he entered the Royal Talon and headed to the border, while getting continuous updates about the location of the mutant headed their way.

The word Blessed was reserved for Wakandans with Bast’s blessings, the others were called mutants in Wakanda.

Their fear had come true, as Mike was flying towards the shields, as if he knew their exact location, despite their best efforts to keep it hidden. No matter how hard they tried, they could not get the energy emissions of the shield to come to zero. So, they had chosen the next best option.

Keeping them so low, on top of the energy suppression field around the country, that the only way to get a meaningful energy reading was to come so close to Wakanda’s borders that the Border Tribe could act before anyone else could.

Sadly, all their countermeasures, be it the energy suppression mechanics, their anti teleporting mechanisms, their first strike at a powerful mutant, had failed, one after the other, leaving behind said powerful mutant headed straight towards them.

He just hoped that this did not go beyond a minor skirmish as more than the mutant attacking them, the threat of them being exposed to the world terrified him. One mutant attack, no matter how devastating, would be nothing compared to the existential threat that would be the world knowing about Wakanda and Vibranium.

Already, they have had to take some drastic steps to make sure that the shadow Arms Race that had most of the governments on the planet try anything that could stick when it came to making anti mutant weaponry, did not lead to them needing more Vibranium. 

Two projects of SHIELD had already been destroyed, with their lead scientists killed to make sure that their theories of Vibranium being used as a skeleton lattice to dampen any energy based abilities did not gain any meaningful traction.

A project that had already proven to be successful and was used for their mutant prisoners, the ones deemed too useful to be killed.

As he landed in front of the SHIELD, with hundreds of soldiers, armed with latest gen weaponry, he watched with furrowed brows as Mike, who was definitely clothed when he left the SHIELD Quinjet, landed in front of the Shield, his dignity covered only by leaves of all things.

Before they could do anything more, he wanted to see what Mike was really here to do. They had an eight hour window where every single satellite aimed at Wakanda would not get the latest readings, so him attacking the shield with his considerable power should be fine, as the shield would not buckle under that power but would certainly send out more energy into the atmosphere to deflect any blow.

He just hoped that the recent reports they got from the WarDogs that reported Mike undergoing a complete change, in terms of energy as well as body density, right after coming out of that pocket dimension of his, were just exaggerating, and he was not looking at a mutant that could grow exponentially with time. That would be a true nightmare to face. 

Thankfully, with a sigh of relief, he realised that Mike was not going to attack anytime soon, something he decided to take as a positive sign. 

Walking forward, he was joined by Okoye and her personal squad, with the rest following them from a distance. 

Word Count - 2973