Having shaken off all tails, Clark finally met with T'Challa, who had been waiting for him at a McDonald's, along with the Vibranium gear he had specially delivered. When Clark removed his liberating mask to reveal his true face, T'Challa opened a suitcase prepared earlier, revealing two triangular arm shields with an ancient design.
The shields were a light gray, exuding an ancient flair, with two retractable blades at the top that could be freely controlled for offense and defense.
They were unmistakably the pair used by Captain America in Avengers 3.
With a slight smile, T'Challa placed the shields back in the suitcase and handed it over to Clark, saying, "These shields were used by a previous warrior of Wakanda. I wonder if Brother Clark is satisfied?"
"Of course, I'm satisfied." Clark felt that these arm shields seemed to share a fate with Captain America: "Speaking of which, I still haven't found any clues about the person you asked me to look for last time. Here I am, borrowing things from you again, I feel quite ashamed as an older brother."
Since accepting T'Challa's request last time, he had been using various resources to search for Klaue's whereabouts, unfortunately, after utilizing almost all connections, he found no trace of him.
By "almost all means," it was implied he hadn't yet utilized his connections with S.H.I.E.L.D.
However, just as Black Panther sought his help instead of going to more authoritative departments, it was a matter of trust.
Capturing Klaue was predicated on not resorting to those they couldn't fully trust, otherwise, it would be a huge problem for Wakanda.
T'Challa expressed his understanding with a slight nod, then seriously said: "We in Wakanda have been searching for Klaue for over a decade without success, how could we expect Brother Clark to do it overnight?"
"Speaking of which, Brother Clark, did you urgently need the shield because you encountered some trouble?"
Clark gently shook his head, indicating it was just a minor trouble that he could handle himself.
While they were enjoying their conversation, the voice of Qingfeng suddenly interrupted: "Sir, your villa in the beach resort area has been attacked."
Hearing Qingfeng's words, Clark was stunned: "Who did it?"
"I don't know," Qingfeng's voice replied truthfully: "All signals were instantly cut off, unable to retrieve any relevant data."
Destroying the villa's communication system in an instant?
What kind of power was needed to do that?
Clark admitted to himself that he couldn't achieve this feat yet, even with the power of the Blood Sky. From the attack impacting the villa to completely destroying it, it would take at least three to five seconds.
For Qingfeng, even a second would have been enough to capture some crucial information.
At least, it should have been able to analyze what kind of force attacked the villa!
Who could have such capability?
Tony?
Impossible! Even if he did invent some superweapon, he wouldn't waste it on showing off by destroying a villa.
Hydra? If they had such power, would they still be playing tricks with him?
After pondering for a while and still clueless, Clark decided to call Hill directly.
When in doubt, turn to S.H.I.E.L.D!
"Someone actually attacked your property, judging by your tone, someone is going to be in big trouble."
Hearing Hill's teasing, Clark angrily said: "Of course, whoever attacked the villa, I will make them pay a painful price! I swear!"
Clark, now significantly stronger, was eager to find an opponent to test his current combat level.
With the pressure from the government that couldn't be resolved with fists, he was feeling frustrated.
At this moment, someone dared to attack his villa, how could he let it go? But then Hill suddenly said: "The results are in."
"That fast?"
"Yes, just that fast. I just had to check the surveillance satellites, and I've already seen enough to understand the situation." After a pause, Hill asked with a hint of surprise: "Haven't you gone to the scene yet?"
"I just heard from Qingfeng and thought it wouldn't be useful to go now, so I called you first." After explaining, Clark curiously asked: "Tell me, what happened?"
"Your villa is gone. In the satellite surveillance footage, it's completely disappeared, leaving only a crater in its place. It looks like it was caused by a meteorite strike, but there's no meteorite at the scene, just a... hammer?"
A hammer!
A hammer that fell from the sky! Wasn't that hammer supposed to land in the desert of New Mexico? How did it end up at my place?
As Clark was stunned, Hill spoke again: "Aren't you always omniscient, able to foresee the future?"
"I'm really curious if you also know the origin of this hammer, and what kind of painful price you plan to make the perpetrator pay?"
"Uh..." Clark was left speechless by Hill's question, and after a long time, he finally said: "I've just realized that the design of that villa had problems. To use a Chinese phrase, it had bad Feng Shui, living there would surely bring misfortune. Perhaps that's why I've been facing continuous troubles?"
"Now that it's been smashed, it's a good opportunity to build a new one."
After coughing, Clark's voice sounded a bit hoarse: "Well, what I want to say is... nicely done!"
Clark said this, not out of cowardice...
Okay, he was indeed chickening out.
Having gained the power of the Blood Sky and after a period of intensive training, Clark's strength had indeed soared, but he wasn't delusional enough to act recklessly.
At best, Clark was now among the top tier of Earth's superheroes, capable of trying to arm-wrestle Thor, but as for Odin... better not.
That guy was the supreme ruler of the Nine Realms, who had once faced the Celestials in direct combat, and even managed to survive a battle against multiple opponents.
Although he lost, the fact that he survived such a battle speaks volumes of his strength.
At his peak, Odin possessed the terrifying strength of a god (capable of holding his own against a member of the Celestials), and facing such a formidable opponent, claiming not to be afraid would be pure self-deception.
However, Odin was not unreasonable. Since he destroyed Clark's house, maybe there was a chance to seek some compensation?
Clark found this situation quite interesting!
"Although I don't know what you're so wary of, I still have to remind you to be prepared." Before ending the call, Hill advised him in a low voice: "According to the data I just found, 16 FBI agents were conducting reconnaissance near your villa at the time of the hammer attack and all perished."
After hanging up, Clark's brows furrowed tightly, and he began unconsciously tapping on the table with his right index finger.
The FBI had been monitoring him, and now 16 agents had died near his villa.
This was a big problem for Clark!
In principle, being killed by a hammer falling from the sky is considered a natural disaster, and the deceased would be deemed deserving.
Under normal circumstances, Clark could easily distance himself from the incident, as it had nothing to do with him, and he wasn't afraid of investigation.
However, with countless eyes from the US government and Hydra on him, the government would want to take a bite out of him, and Hydra would not rest until they had him in their grasp.
With this incident happening now, everyone would undoubtedly try to pin the blame on him, and if not handled properly, the situation could become even more complicated.
Originally, to once and for all eliminate the threat posed by Hank Pym, Clark had already prepared everything.
But the appearance of this hammer disrupted his well-organized plans.
After a moment, Clark stopped tapping on the table, looked up at the Wakandan prince: "I don't have time to explain too much right now, but I have another favor to ask of you."
"Brother Clark's matters are my matters," Black Panther assured, patting his chest: "Leave it to me, you can rest assured."
"The situation is like this..."
After bidding farewell to T'Challa, Clark immediately took out his full gear in the restaurant, dressed neatly, and walked out the door under the odd gazes of others. He then took off into the air, heading towards the beach resort villa as quickly as possible.
However, Clark was fast, and others were not slow either.
Just as Clark had just landed near the crater, looking down at the hammer that fell from the sky, a red figure also arrived at supersonic speed. On the opposite side of the crater, facing Clark, the figure executed a beautiful Thomas full spin 360-degree high-altitude slam and slowly stood up, flipping open the golden face mask to reveal his true face.
It was Tony.
Wearing what was now an unknown Mark of armor, Tony's gaze fell on Clark across the crater and immediately switched to taunt mode: "Heard your house got smashed?"
Clark, already in a bad mood, was not going to tolerate his mockery: "Stop gloating, sooner or later your house will get blown up too."
Tony only scoffed disdainfully at Clark's well-meaning spoiler.
Then, a buzzing sound approached from afar, signaling the arrival of S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel and a large contingent of US military at the scene.
Leading S.H.I.E.L.D. was the highly visible Agent Coulson, while the military was led by a man Clark did not recognize.
Appearing alongside him was Secretary of State Ross, who Clark had confronted just the day before. From their previous positions, it seemed Ross held the real authority within the military presence.
Seeing at least a reinforced platoon behind the two, Clark's expression turned cold. Pointing at the crater in front of him, he sternly asked Ross: "Regarding this incident, does Secretary Ross have any explanation?"
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