While Alex was carefully weaving a web for the Black Widow and laying the path for a high-ranking spy within the ranks of Shield, the Mandarin was busy reviewing the information given to him.
The file about project T.A.H.I.T.I was quite the read indeed. Wenwu had to admit that he knew very little about aliens even while having been around for 1000 years. This file clearly had a decent amount of information about them.
He didn't quite like the idea of adding Kree blood and DNA to his wife's body. Even less so since the file clearly listed the very real side effects of such a thing. Yet, the unique healing and regeneration it offered to the body was unmatched.
He had no intention of bringing his wife back as some zombie, which meant that the body had to be renewed. Something that even his rings were unable to do.
'Obsession with drawing symbols, ever-increasing madness…'
the side effects were substantial, yet thankfully, a solution was also offered. Apparently, if one were to remove memories from those affected by the Kree blood, then they would be able to live normally.
Though even if that should fail, apparently, these symbols were a map, and should the affected person see the entirety of the map, they would also be permanently cured of the infection. 'No map included though…'
Another shocking surprise within the file was the fact that, apparently, there's been an alien invasion of both Kree and Skrulls just a few years back. The fact that aliens were apparently randomly visiting just highlighted the danger that existed.
Clearly, it had been a mistake to ever retire his rings. There were plenty of threats out there that could harm his family. Perhaps once he went back to Ta Lo and brought his wife back, he would be more insistent in her keeping her powers this time, perhaps even ensuring some were bestowed unto his children.
While he would do everything in his power to ensure that the ones responsible for this would never be able to threaten his family again, it would still be prudent to ensure that to deal with other dangers. And if there was no way of dealing with those dangers, then at least ensuring that his children would be able to defend themselves.
'Shang-chi is already coming along in his training; perhaps I should also start training Xialing? No… no, that can wait; her mother can train her when she is back with us. Yeah, that's a good idea, I train Shang-chi, and she takes care of training little Xialing.'
He couldn't help but smile as he thought about that. His family once more whole again all of them together. Him training Shang-chi And her training Xialing. Then, father and mother, brother and sister would spar against one another, further refining their strengths.
But before that could truly happen, he needed to bring Ying Li back first. To do that, he would need to get his hands on this special drug made from the blood of a Kree and make the Hand give up their precious serum.
Which shouldn't be difficult. He knew them. He had met every member of the Hand and beaten them in combat back in the day when he banished them from China. They value their lives far too much to not give him exactly what he wants.
Reading over the file of the resurrection serum, he was mildly impressed with its ability. He always considered allowing himself to grow old and a guy with his wife, leaving his rings to Shang-chi. Perhaps this was a better way.
With the serum, all four of them could live forever. He would perhaps need to find some dragon bone himself to create a steady supply of the elixir. Something that shouldn't be too difficult to accomplish, given that he did have the ten rings up and running. This time he wouldn't shut them down once his vengeance had succeeded.
No, keeping the ten rings around was better to protect his family, secure his interests, and hunt for dragon bones. Thinking back to youth. In the days before, he met Ying Li. To the man, he had been back then obsessed with power for no other sake than power.
After meeting her, the old him had disgusted him. The great Mandarin feared living such an empty life across the world. This time, it will be different. Still, he will hunt for power, but not just for the sake of the power.
This time, it is all for his family to keep it together, to keep it strong, to hold grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and many more generations in his hands. Perhaps one day, it would not be the Kree that comes to Earth to make war, but the ten rings that bring war to the stars.
Leaning back in his throne he thought of how to proceed. He had three main objectives right now. Revenge, which pointed towards this hydra organization. The Kree blood, the drugs made from it, and the resurrection serum.
Looking at the file about Hydra again, he noted that there was no mention of them having any presence within China, which he guessed made sense. After all, China was his domain, and no foreign organization could sit down roots here without his go-ahead.
Oh, there was no doubt that they had some kind of minor presence. If they didn't, they wouldn't have been able to act against Ricci. After all that man had plenty of protection around himself.
Personally, Wenwu didn't care much for modern weaponry. He had always preferred a more personal touch. Not to mention the more skillfully trained agents of his own. He even had to admit that the men who accompanied him were highly skilled and very well-trained. At least, the men he had met today had been no less competent than his own.
Yet even with a small army of such skilled guards armed with the most deadly of modern tech available to them, Ricci still died in the end. That wasn't something easy to pull off, which meant that if the enemy that had killed him was truly Hydra, then Hydra had some power in China.
This meant that it was entirely possible that it was, in fact, Hydra that was behind the death of his own wife. While he couldn't take Ricci's word for it without some manner of further proof. It is hard. He was already convinced.
It's seen how diminished Ricci had become. He's seen the sea thing rage at the corner of his eyes. Oh yeah, there was no doubt about it: he had been killed, and he was very angry.
Given the information in the file, it seemed that the hand might know more since we will be going to Japan to deal with the hand for their restrictions serum anyway. He might as well get the answers about this whole Hydra thing.
The serum would no doubt be the easiest thing to acquire. Arranging a meeting with the hand would be no trouble at all. Once he was face to face with those cowardly fingers, well, he would have what he wanted, and he would ensure there was no tampering with memories, as the files seemed to indicate could be done.
For the Kree drug, things got a bit trickier after the fire contained frighteningly little information. He had no idea where this guest house was located. It seemed that, truly, very few people knew that.
If the file was to be believed, then those who controlled the guest house even went this far as to delete the memories of those who had been there such that they never even knew that they had once been saved by this miracle drug.
He would need to have his men scour the Earth for this secret base. Thankfully, the tiny bit of clues Ricci had managed to scrape together would narrow down the search quite a lot. There were, after all, only so many mountains in the so-called Western world.
There was, however, one additional thing he required: reaching Ta Lo again. It had not been easy to find the first time, and he doubted he would be welcomed with open arms this time.
Though he was sure he would eventually get in, he would not be stopped. His family would be united, and everything trying to stand in his way would be annihilated. The ten rings around his arms vibrated and glowed as he had this thought.
"I want you all to investigate everything you can about the assassination of my guest. I want to know who was behind it and how it was possible. And get me a meeting with the hand; tell them that I will not be pleased if I have to wait."
He quickly commanded to one of his followers who bowed and stormed out of the room to follow his commands.
"You there." He said, pointing to another of his followers. "Bring all these things to my office, and be careful with it." He commanded and placed the files back into some boxes he had brought over after Ricci's men took the original containers back with them.
"I'm going through with the banquet, so it will just be me and my two children. Ensure they are prepared and bring Ricci's gifts as well." Another command and another follower quickly rushed out to carry them out.
"And what of our guests?" One of his men inquired.
This question caused the Mandarin to pause for a moment. Given that the original plan had changed vastly due to the assassination. Originally, he was supposed to host his guests for the night.
Something that now was no longer needed as his guest had retreated back home. Which enough itself was rather surprising. He Didn't think he would have had such abilities to travel half the globe in moments. Yet again, he did claim his ability to stay alive was top-notch, something he had proved.
The change of plans, however, also meant that the plane meant to take Ricci's men back home had already left. Something that now caused his guest to be unable to leave China and return home.
"Arrange a plane for them so they can leave immediately." After thinking over a couple of scenarios, he finally said and decided to be still upon Ricci this small favor.
This follower, too, bowed deeply and left to carry out his command before Wenwu dismissed them all and left the room himself to go prepare for the banquet. It had been so long since the last time they had some quality family time together.
It wouldn't be perfect. There would still be missing something, missing someone. But even then, this deal and the information he had gotten was worth celebrating for him and his children.
Shang-chi knew some important guests were coming by today. He had even been given a rare free day from training. He couldn't remember the last time that had happened.
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He had no idea about who this guest was, only that they had to be a big deal for his father to take them seriously enough to host them a banquet of all things. So rather than training, he had been instructed in how to behave at such an event.
As evening fell and he was escorted to the banquet hall, he couldn't help but be confused. He entered the hall, seeing no one else there, neither his father nor the guest.
As he approached the table, he noticed it was only set up for three people. Thinking that his father had chosen not to allow Xialing to attend, he couldn't help but become angry and disappointed.
Not sure what to do just yet, he just stood about by his seat, unsure if he was allowed to sit for his father and their guest arrived.
As the door opened, he straightened his back and held his head high as he had been instructed to do and was ready to greet father and the guest yes rather than those it was his sister who arrived. Which confused him since there wasn't made a table for more than three.
Yet, given the way she was dressed up, it truly did seem like she was also supposed to be there. He cast her a questioning look; all he got in return was a shake of her head as she, too, didn't appear to know what was going on.
Moments later, the door opened again. This time, it was his father who entered. He walked with light, purposeful steps toward his seat and ignored them both. It wasn't until he had sat down he turned to address them.
"Come, my children, come and sit with me. Tonight, we shall celebrate." He said, motioning to the two seats prepared for them.
Shang-chi couldn't help but be surprised. His father seemed to be in such a good mood, even smiling at both of them. He hadn't smiled like that since before mom died. Never mind smiling at Xialing, he normally wouldn't even look at her.
Confused, he sat down, and his sister did much the same. "I thought we had a guest joining us tonight, Father." He questioned after a moment.
"Ahh Yeah, I'm afraid Mr Ricci couldn't make it. Someone decided that our deal shouldn't succeed, so they put a bullet in his head." He said in a light, careless tone before sipping on a drink.
His response just confused Shang-chi even more. Surely, if someone had dared to interfere with this very important business deal, his father would have been angry, not this happy and wanting to celebrate.
"If the guest was killed and teal fell through, then why the celebration?" He asked the question both he and his sister were thinking.
"Well, a bullet to the head isn't quite enough to kill Mr. Ricci, my guest. However, it was enough to have him retreat back home, which is why I couldn't be here. I did have a remote call with him, and the deal went through."
Shang-chi, hearing this, was confused as to how someone could survive getting shot in the head. After all the way his father had worded it, it didn't seem like it was just a mere glancing blow.
"Both I and Mr. Ricci also believe that the ones responsible for blowing his head open are this same mastermind behind your mother's death whom I've been looking for." His father continued, though, at this sentence, the rings around his forearms glowed brightly.
"Perhaps soon she shall be fully avenged and we can be a whole family again." He set and then did something that further shocked the two as he turned to Xialing and addressed her.
"You should get ready to start some training of your own. I won't be training you alongside your brother; instead, you should have fewer teachers, and you will merely spar with your brother."
This sent both of them reeling as this was against everything they had gotten used to from their father in the last few years.
Shang-chi could hardly believe what was happening, and Xialing was no different. "What was this deal about, Father?" Shang-chi couldn't help but ask.
"I think I will keep that a surprise for now. Oh, and Speaking of surprises, Mr Ricci had some gifts for the two of you." He said and waved his hands, causing two neatly wrapped packages to fly over and settle on the table before them.
"Go on then. Mr Ricci is a man of many resources. I'm sure that his gift is as impressive as he himself is." He urged them as he himself was somewhat curious as to what the packages contained.
As he opened his gift, he found a pair of rings much like his father's. Though without all the glowing magical stuff to them. Instead, this one had a slight bluish-purple color.
Xialing, on the other hand, seemed to have gotten a very fine traditional Chinese dress, and again, it also had that bluish-purple coloration.
Looking up at his father, he noticed that he narrowed his eyes as he stared at the gifts. Then with movements almost too fast to react to. He cracked a knife from within his sleeve and stabbed towards the dress lying over the table.
Yet, the expected outcome after the blade went clean through the dress, ruining the gift, was that the blade and the table broke instead, leaving the cloth completely unharmed, much to the shock of both children.
Brushing his fingers over the cloth where his dagger stabbed, he couldn't help but marvel at the gift. "It would seem Mr Ricci really did not spare any expense for your gifts."
Hearing that unfamiliar tone in his father's voice, shang-chi couldn't have but give his own gift another look. Letting his finger brush across the cold metal of the rings.
"Once we're done here, the both of you will be writing a thank you letter to Mr Ricci. And you, Xialing, will be wearing that dress as much as possible. I will contact Ricci to ask for more, though it will no doubt be expensive."
Shang-chi and Xialing had no idea why the father reacted in such a manner to the gifts they had received. For they did not understand the value of Vibranium.