Black Panther T'Challa was discussing how to fight the Imperium of Man with the tribal representatives and a number of superheroes, among them Captain America.
Thanks to vibranium, Wakanda possessed extremely advanced technology, and the entire capital was protected by an energy shield.
That was also where their confidence in declaring war on the Imperium came from.
"We should start attacking Imperial facilities right away and show the world where we stand."
Hawkeye, Clint Barton, sat at the oval table in the conference room of the Wakandan royal palace,
tapping the table lightly with stiff fingers.
"Otherwise people will think we're all talk and won't care about our resistance at all."
"The Imperium of Man already controls Earth's major media and social platforms. If we don't take real action, they'll paint us as a bunch of losers griping in a basement."
"I support Hawkeye's proposal." Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff, nodded.
Clad in a form-fitting tactical suit, she had a strikingly curvaceous figure.
"We need actions with enough impact to back up our declaration."
"I'm not suggesting we take on their main force head-on, of course. That would be far too foolish."
"But the new administrative outpost in New York and the faster-than-light orbital control centre in low Earth orbit are important facilities."
"If we pull off an attack, the Imperium will look very much on the back foot in media all over the world. People will realise it isn't invincible."
"I'm against it. People will just think we're terrorists," Bruce Banner objected.
It had taken him many years to coexist peacefully with the Hulk inside him,
and before that, he had lived on the run.
Banner knew very well how public opinion turned the moment someone was labelled a "terrorist."
"Resisting the Imperium isn't a dinner party," Hawkeye said, his voice calm and cold.
In the middle of the heated debate, a portal suddenly opened.
Sensing the threat, the Wakandans and the superheroes all sprang to their feet at once.
Black Panther T'Challa instinctively pressed the activation button for his armour.
Vibranium nanoparticles burst from his necklace like a tsunami,
covering his whole body in an instant and transforming him into the superhero Black Panther.
Captain America grabbed the vibranium shield leaning against the back of his chair and raised it in front of him.
Hawkeye drew his bowstring with an explosive arrow nocked, and Black Widow pulled a pistol from her hip.
Everyone was ready to fight.
Datch and the Emperor led the panther god Bast through the portal and, under the wary gazes of everyone present, stepped into the Wakandan conference room.
Datch, in his distinctive clothes, walked in front, with the Emperor behind him.
The panther god Bast brought up the rear in the form of a jet-black panther.
Under the lights, his soft fur had a cool yet warm sheen, like vibranium.
His tail swayed gently behind him as his amber slit pupils swept the conference room and finally settled on the Black Panther.
It was because of this scoundrel that he'd had to face interrogation by the Nameless One and the Lord of Humanity.
The superheroes were terrified, their nerves taut and their muscles ready to spring at any moment.
The Wakandan royal guards levelled their vibranium spears at Datch and his party.
"I have no intention of starting a war with you."
Datch walked calmly up to the superheroes, found an empty chair, and sat down.
Thinking about what he was about to do, he felt laughter welling up inside him.
But he had to hold it in for now and not laugh too early, or he wouldn't get the effect he wanted.
Datch forced his eyes away from T'Challa's grave face, which had no idea what was coming, and suppressed his glee.
"I'm not here to do anything. I'd just like to say a few words on behalf of the people of Wakanda."
Black Panther: ...
Even I, the king, can't claim to speak for the people of Wakanda.
How dare an invader like you speak on their behalf!
Is turning the world upside down the fashion these days?
"The people of Wakanda don't need you to speak for them," Okoye, captain of the royal guard, said coldly, glaring at Datch.
Her vibranium spear was still firmly aimed at him, its tip glinting coldly in the lamplight.
"I can't represent the people of Wakanda, but do you think you can?"
Datch's tone was mocking.
"The people of Wakanda have only ever followed the one chosen by the panther god. But after we talked, the panther god decided I was trustworthy and chose to entrust me, for now, with leading the people of Wakanda."
Datch turned to the panther god Bast and signalled him to come forward.
Bast, in the form of a huge black panther, leapt up, passed soundlessly by Datch, and landed lightly on the conference table.
He stared hard at the Black Panther for a while, then finally shook his head.
"T'Challa, you have terribly disappointed me. For your own selfish interests, you have endangered all of Wakanda, and even the African continent. I revoke my blessing upon you. The Nameless One is the one I have chosen."
Before the eyes of the many tribal elders, purple light streamed out of the Black Panther and into Bast's body.
It was the soul pact every Black Panther made with Bast through the heart-shaped herb at the coronation,
the source of the Black Panther's strength, stamina, and immunity.
With the panther god's blessing gone, T'Challa's armour vanished on its own, and shock and despair filled his face.
The armour was so powerful that an ordinary person couldn't control it and risked injuring themselves, so it was designed to deactivate automatically.
The tribal elders exchanged puzzled glances, then all bowed their heads to Datch.
T'Challa's family had taken the throne because they had won the panther god's approval.
That was the political foundation of Wakanda and the tradition every tribe followed.
The panther god Bast had appeared in person and publicly declared before the tribal elders that he was revoking his blessing on T'Challa. Naturally, the tribes no longer owed loyalty to T'Challa and his family.
Captain America, Okoye, and the others all looked on in disbelief.
With just a few words, the Black Panther was no longer king of Wakanda?
A moment ago, those tribal elders had sworn absolute loyalty to T'Challa's family, and now they had gone over to the Imperium of Man.
"Everyone, don't be fooled!" Shuri, the Black Panther's younger sister, burst in through the conference hall's side door, her eyes blazing with indignation and anger.
She was Wakanda's youngest and most brilliant scientist, and she had pushed vibranium technology to heights her predecessors could never have imagined.
"This is all a trick by the Imperium of Man to break our will to resist."
"So you're saying I'm a fraud too?" The panther god Bast glared at Princess Shuri with open hostility.
Being bullied by the Nameless One and the Lord of Humanity was bad enough.
After all, those two were beings that even the most ruthless killers among the Imperial gods didn't dare raise their voices to.
But now a mere mortal was calling him a liar to his face?
Did she really think a god was someone she could push around as she pleased?
"If you were the panther god, you would never bow to tyrants and dictators." Princess Shuri was fearless, without a trace of unease in her eyes.
The panther god Bast gave a mocking smile.
"And choosing you means choosing Wakanda's dictator king, doesn't it?"
"Your throne is hereditary and has never been checked by any tribal council. Under your country's laws, anyone who challenges for the throne at the coronation may be killed in single combat."
"If that isn't dictatorship, Princess, then tell me, what on earth is?"
Princess Shuri was left speechless. She opened her mouth but couldn't get out a single word in rebuttal.
Her brother truly was the most merciful king Wakanda had known.
But the succession of the Wakandan throne was, at heart, an absolute dictatorship founded on the black panther god's sacred authority.
"All right, let's stop wasting each other's time. We're here for two reasons. The first was to expose the false king's lies." Datch stood up. "That's done. Now for the second."
"Choosing a new ruler for Wakanda, one who serves the interests of the Wakandan people."
Datch didn't want to trade pointless words with them, so he used the Infinity Gauntlet to open a spatial portal
and brought Ulysses Klaue straight there from some distant corner of the world.
This was the man who had once stolen vibranium and plotted to kill the previous king, T'Chaka.
When he stepped out of the spatial passage, he was still wearing a Hawaiian shirt and holding a half-finished bottle of beer.
Klaue looked around blankly, utterly bewildered and with no idea what was going on.
Datch didn't need him to understand.
Control of Wakanda would go back to the Imperium sooner or later anyway.
For now, he just wanted to rile up the Black Panther.
Rebel against the Imperium of Man, and watch your dignity get thrown into hell.
"From today, Ulysses Klaue is the ruler of Wakanda, recognised by the panther god."
Datch reached out, tapped Klaue lightly on the shoulder, and announced his decision to everyone present in a tone both light and resolute.
The announcement caused an immediate uproar.
The most agitated of all was the Black Panther. His eyes went blood-red in an instant, and he let out a ferocious roar.
If the superheroes beside him hadn't restrained him at once, he would have lost control and attacked the Nameless One without mercy.
Klaue was the enemy who had killed the Black Panther's father.
Making him ruler of Wakanda was a deliberate jab at the Black Panther.
Klaue himself looked stunned and thought it must be a joke.
Only when he turned to the nameless man beside him and recognised him as the supreme ruler of the Imperium of Man did he come out of his daze.
He pointed at himself with a trembling hand. "Honoured Nameless One, are you saying I'm now the ruler of this country?"
Datch nodded. "That's right, Klaue. You're the ruler of Wakanda now."
The tribal elders turned to the panther god Bast and waited for his answer.
"That's right, he's the one I've chosen to rule Wakanda," Bast hastily shouted, feeling the Nameless One's gaze on him.
Hearing the panther god's answer, the tribal elders bowed their heads to Klaue.
Smack…
Klaue slapped his own cheek hard. It hurt. It was all real.
Hahaha, he'd done it, he'd done it, he'd become king of Wakanda.
"Tear down every statue of that scoundrel T'Chaka. He was a traitor to Wakanda."
That was Klaue's first order.
"How dare you…" T'Challa growled low, his eyes bloodshot.
"Go on, try it," Klaue laughed. "Remember, I'm the ruler of Wakanda. You're nothing now."
"Captain of the guard, throw these outsiders out of the palace. This is the palace of Wakanda, not a place for outsiders."
"We're outsiders?" Princess Shuri's eyes went wide. "We grew up here."
Okoye was at a loss for a moment. Her duty was to serve the king of Wakanda, and now the king was Klaue.
Disobeying the order would be treason.
But she had grown up with the T'Challa siblings, and she simply couldn't do it.
"Disarm the captain of the guard and exile her too." Klaue looked around and exiled Okoye without a shred of mercy.
With the tribal elders' backing, the guards drove the former king, his sister, and the superheroes out of the palace.
Klaue seized the moment to announce that Wakanda would join the Imperium of Man and help build a great human civilisation.
"You think you can beat us like this?" Steve Rogers shouted at Datch in front of the palace.
"I hope you have more fun from here on," Datch said with a smile. "Coming up with ways to foil your schemes was a lot of fun for me."
"To be honest, I was pretty nervous just now. I was worried everything I'd carefully planned wouldn't go well and would end badly."
Black Panther, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and the other superheroes were all furious.
He was treating their resistance as entertainment.
This was taking the bullying of superheroes too far.
But there was nothing they could do. They could only slink away quietly, like a pack of stray dogs.
Around the same time the Black Panther was defeated, another incident involving the resistance, now led by Captain America, took place in space.
Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, had been off keeping the peace elsewhere in the universe; summoned by former S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, she returned to the galaxy.
On learning what the Imperium of Man had been doing, she resolved to show them that the galaxy was no place for their evil deeds.
"The Imperium of Man is extremely powerful. I think we should be careful," Star-Lord advised.
"That's because they haven't met me yet," Captain Marvel said confidently.
Soon after her return, the first battle broke out.
The rebels targeted a legion that had only just arrived from the Warhammer world. Its emblem was a drop of blood flanked by wings, and its warriors called themselves the Blood Angels.
The legion was commanded by the Lord of Humanity's ninth son.
On learning this, Captain Marvel resolved to strike at the legion's fleet.
She meant to capture the Lord of Humanity's son, negotiate with him, and drive the Imperium out of this universe.
Shortly afterward, a full-scale battle broke out.
The assembled rebels, piloting all sorts of strange warships, launched their attack on the Ninth Legion.
Captain Marvel used her immense cosmic energy to batter Imperial battleships, shatter their shields, and tear huge holes in their hulls.
If not for the time-travel device, there would likely have been heavy casualties.
Realising the fleet would be hard to destroy, Captain Marvel readily gave up on it and made straight for the flagship, aiming to defeat the Lord of Humanity's ninth son first.