This was a good test for the propulsion boots. I have Sleipnir to travel long distances, but I don't have great skill in mounted combat. I needed a way to fly short distances while maintaining mobility.
The boots were made by Genosha's scientific unit; they convert my heat into propulsion. Truly ingenious! After years of nurturing and cultivating my people's intelligence, I was quite pleased with the result. I pass through the city's holographic shield and head east. Even though the Nazis have kidnapped the children, they will have to take them to a protected place to make their demands to Wakanda. Their safest position now is their ship. From afar, I hear constant explosions and gunfire.
(The Nazis must be keeping the American army busy.)
I know Azzuri and Steve are more than capable of handling the situation. Now I have to keep my word and protect the children. Flying at high speed for a few minutes, I finally see several military jeeps speeding along a dirt road.
They are not paying attention to the sky, so they don't notice me. Unfortunately, I have no idea which jeep the children are in, so I can't blow them all up at once.
Beams of sunlight hit the hoods of the five jeeps; a few seconds later, the hoods explode, spewing a cloud of smoke into the sky. The cars stop shortly after.
The soldiers, along with the men who captured me, expecting an attack, exit the cars armed. They form a perimeter protecting the convoy. The front jeep opens its doors, and I see Klaw stepping out of it along with the armless man. All of them try to locate the point of the attack, but one of them looks up.
"Colonel Klaw, how nice of you to arrive in time for me to say goodbye."
My voice makes everyone tremble as they look at me floating in the sky. Unlike our first encounter, now the colonel looks frightened.
"You left me without giving me a chance to say goodbye; that was truly rude."
The sunlight seems to perceive my mood and starts to ripple around me, making the atmosphere even more tense.
"HAHA! King Baldur truly surprised me now."
Klaw seems to have regained his arrogance, as if he were thinking of a way to escape me.
"Is King Baldur not going to attack us? It would be a shame if these two children were injured in the crossfire."
The second jeep door opens, and a Nazi soldier carries the two still unconscious children on his shoulders. This soldier is different from the others; he has a sadistic look on his face.
"Ah, let me introduce my lieutenant, Vagner. His excellent work with Jewish children in the camps made me summon him for this mission with the order to 'educate' these children."
(What a beautiful psychological game.)
"Wouldn't it be better for me to return to my path before I order Vagner to 'educate' these children here and now?"
First, he shows his cards with the intention of reminding me that he still holds the power, then he reminds me of what could happen to the children if I don't obey. Truly a good strategist, but his actions are making me very angry.
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TALKING TO!"
The sunlight seems to fade away; in just a second, the clear day turns as dark as night, as if I were sucking in all the light like a black hole. If they were afraid before, now the soldiers and traitors are on the verge of dropping their weapons.
"God Baldur, please forgive me, I didn't mean to betray the kingdom."
The one who speaks is the leader of the traitor guards who captured me.
(I'll start with you.)
"Shut up, you fool; can't you see we have the advantage?" Colonel Klaw yells at him.
I raise my arm, and my action draws everyone's attention.
"Begging for forgiveness? Unfortunately, I am not the god of forgiveness."
Snap!
"AAAAAAAAH!"
With a snap of my fingers, the traitors fall to the ground screaming in pain. I'm doing the same thing I did with the four who captured me, but at a slower pace. With the previous four, I didn't have time, so I had to kill them quickly. With these, I can be patient. As I said before, I hate traitors.
All the German soldiers simply stand paralyzed, watching those men writhing on the ground, screaming in pain. Seconds later, they stop, but they're still not dead; the heat burned their vocal cords, but they're still writhing on the ground.
"Well, now that the traitors have been taken care of, what was the main issue again? Oh, yes, 'educating' the children about my protection."
Klaw looked at me, terrified.
"Wait, King Baldur, why not take the children? Just let me go free."
"And your men?"
"They're foolish fanatics. I don't agree with any of their ideals."
Klaw's words ignited the fury of the soldiers around him, but he didn't care. He was the kind of person who would do anything to survive; betraying his men must have meant nothing to him.
"It's a good proposal."
My words made him smile, imagining the chance to escape alive.
"But as I said before, I hate traitors."
After my words, all hope drained from Klaw. He yelled to Lieutenant Vagner.
"Kill the children!"
As his words left his mouth, a beam of light hit the car's side mirror, deflecting its direction and passing through Lieutenant Vagner's head, killing him instantly.
He fell to the ground along with the children.
"It's time to end this."
Before the lightless atmosphere returned to normal, a circle illuminated the surroundings.
"Let me show you, Klaw, what abilities made White Gorilla fear me."
A column of golden light struck everyone at the speed of light. Seconds later, everything returned to normal. The sunlight returned to the environment, and if it weren't for the large crater in the ground, no one would suspect anything wrong. In the center of the crater, two children and a body were completely unharmed.
"A 100% accurate attack."
I land in the middle of the crater where the two boys are. Luckily, they haven't woken up amidst all the commotion. Maybe they've been drugged to facilitate transportation. Looking around, I find no signs of bodies or bones.
"Perhaps I overdid it a bit."
It's been many years since I let loose in a fight, and I'm still feeling furious about having to use the entity's power. My arm is still hurting. As I'm about to pick up the children, I hear a noise and look up. I see a Wakandan ship landing a few meters away from me. When the door opens, several Dora Milaje, with Ada in front, come out.
"King Baldur, how are the children?" She asks me, fear evident in her voice.
"They're just sleeping, Ada. Don't worry."
"Take them to the ship; we'll perform a complete examination."
The Dora obey and take the children to the ship, leaving just the two of us.
"When I ensured the queen's safety, I checked the castle cameras to find the princes. That's when I saw what happened. I never imagined we would have traitors even in the royal palace."
She might be blaming herself for the situation.
"It wasn't your duty to protect the children, but mine. You completed your duty by protecting the queen."
My words seem to have little effect on her.
"And the traitors?" There's fury in her voice as she asks me.
"They turned to dust, just like the Nazis. Now that everything's settled, tell me about the situation in the battle."
"It ended quickly when the captain and the king joined the battle. Our soldiers managed to assist by attacking secretly while the captain and the king drew attention to themselves, but the Americans suffered more losses due to the surprise attack."
The situation ended more quickly than expected.
"Let's go back; Azzuri and the queen must be worried about their children."
Things were resolved quickly after my return. The children were embraced by their mother for hours while she cried. After the battle, the Americans remained around Wakanda to take care of the wounded and prisoners. Azzuri finally had evidence of the Jibari tribe's betrayal, all recorded by his helmet's visor. The part where he talks about killing all the elders was very effective as evidence, and everyone agreed to banish the tribe from Wakanda, isolating them in their mountain.
The whole situation was resolved within two days, and now I'm saying goodbye to our friend near a plane alongside Azzuri.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay, Captain? You are very welcome in Wakanda."
With the situation resolved in Africa, Steve has to return to Germany to hunt down HYDRA bases.
"I would love to rest for a bit, but the war is not over yet."
"I understand, so take this as a keepsake."
Azzuri gives Steve a small silver box, and Steve looks at it curiously.
"Don't take it the wrong way, Captain, but your shield is past its prime. With this, maybe you can create a more durable weapon."
The original triangular shield of the captain was full of bullet holes and blackened by explosions.
"Is this!?"
Realizing that there is a bit of Wakanda's rare metal in the small box, Steve is speechless.
"Yes, a great warrior deserves a weapon worthy of him."
"Thank you, King Azzuri. I would like you to keep this."
Steve hands his old shield to Azzuri, who accepts it with respect.
"Well, I'll let you two talk alone."
After saying goodbye to Steve once again, he leaves us alone.
"Did you hear what my men found?" He asks me with a smile.
"No, what?"
"A few kilometers away from the battle, they found a large crater. My men thought a large meteor had fallen, but after searching thoroughly, we found some pieces of German jeeps. We deduced that a meteor fell right on top of the commander of that battle. Without orders, the enemy army fell into chaos, contributing to our victory."
"They really weren't lucky."
"True, what are the chances of that happening?" He says with irony.
"Karma maybe?"
"Yes, maybe."
Steve was intelligent; he had already figured out that I had made that crater, not that I had hidden it.
"This is a goodbye, my friend."
I shake his hand.
"We'll see each other again, Steve, I'm sure of it."
"Maybe you'll show me your city next time."
Steve says goodbye with these words, heading towards the American plane flying towards the battlefield, while I return to meet with Azzuri.
"He really is a good friend," he says, looking at the plane fading into the distance.
After the plane disappears on the horizon, he turns to me.
"You're going back to your city, I suppose?"
With things resolved here in Wakanda, nothing ties me to return to my home, but I have no intentions of doing so.
"It's been a long time since I went out into the world. To tell the truth, I was a little bored. Maybe I'll travel once again."
"You really lead a relaxed life; I envy you a lot," he says, pretending to have a helpless voice.
"Coming from the man with several mistresses. I still don't know why your wife hasn't cut you while you were sleeping."
"Luckily, my wife isn't possessive. She knows I love her more than anyone else, unlike you, my friend. The last time a woman dared to court you, she was turned into a rat by your wife."
"She was turned back immediately."
"But the warning was given," he says, smiling.
BEEP!
BEEP!
As I'm about to reply, my communicator rings. I take out a small disc emitting a holographic light of a faceless, hairless, featureless humanoid figure—a shadowy AI.
"Sir, I have an urgent message from the queen, Code Beta."
(T/N: Why beta?, why not alpha)
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