C418

Time passed quickly — in the blink of an eye, another half month had gone by.

During this period, more than half of the lunar base construction had been completed.

With the combined strength of the world's powers, the support of various factions, and the strong foundation left behind by the Skrulls — who had originally built the moon base — progress was rapid.

Later, after being taken over by the Men in Black, the entire moon was practically turned into an impenetrable fortress.

It's worth mentioning that, after Wakanda came into closer contact with the world at large, they were surprised to discover that Earth's overall technological level wasn't as backward as they had thought.

Though Wakanda is extremely advanced technologically, it remains a small nation after all.

Building a kingdom on a small piece of land and building a powerful nation across a vast continent are two very different things.

The World Council, for their part, was astonished by Wakanda's development. Although they stayed vigilant, they didn't take Wakanda too seriously.

Over the years, many countries had secretly accumulated a fair amount of classified information and advanced technology intended to counter various threats.

While these technologies might not match Wakanda's finesse, in terms of sheer firepower, they weren't necessarily inferior.

Moreover, the nations of the World Council had already interacted with alien civilizations long before Wakanda revealed itself.

No one but themselves truly knows how much knowledge, resources, and technology they acquired from those aliens — many of whom had once migrated to Earth but fled in a hurry under the looming threat of Thanos' forces.

At least, Anton knew very clearly — thanks to the Men in Black — that every major country had its own extraterrestrial affairs office.

The Men in Black were, in theory, the headquarters overseeing these extraterrestrial branches, but in practice, many of them operated independently and without oversight.

The Men in Black could still control the Americas reasonably well, but their influence in Europe had steadily weakened.

On Earth, the Justice League remained the one true united force.

And it wasn't because of Batman.

It was because of Superman.

While Batman's name carried weight, his influence among the public and within the halls of the World Council was gradually diminishing.

The superhero the world truly looked up to — the one they pinned their hopes on — was Superman.

After the news of Thanos' imminent invasion spread, countries scrambled to connect to the wider galactic network through various channels, learning more about the broader universe.

Their understanding of the major cosmic powers — the Thanos Army, the Kree Empire, and others — quickly rose to a fairly average interstellar level.

Among all these discussions, one name kept surfacing.

Superman.

In the depths of Knowhere, Superman had obliterated an entire Kree Empire fleet by himself, sparing only the flagship and a handful of minor vessels — sending them scurrying back to Kree space.

Despite their anger, the Kree Empire had yet to take any action against Superman.

Meanwhile, the Sakaar Incident continued to reverberate across the interstellar network.

Sakaar had never been a particularly notable planet — known mainly as a cosmic garbage dump.

No one cared much about it... until now.

The reason? News had spread that during a battle on Sakaar, three of Thanos' feared Black Order — the Four Obsidian — had been killed, leaving only Ebony Maw alive.

And it seemed Superman had deliberately let him go.

This revelation sent another shockwave through the galactic community.

The master of the Thanos Legion, the tyrant Titan Thanos himself, flew into a rage upon hearing it and vowed to launch a full-scale assault on Superman's homeworld — Earth.

When the earthlings logged into the interstellar network and saw this news, they were furious.

And they placed the blame squarely on the Justice League.

At the next World Security Council meeting, Anton faced criticism from every corner of the globe.

He was branded a traitor to humanity.

Even the U.S. representative — who had practically been Anton's closest political ally — could do little to defend him.

The bitterness in his gaze was obvious, but he, too, was powerless.

Behind Anton stood Wayne Enterprises, now enjoying the open support of the U.S. president.

Wayne Enterprises had begun showing signs of becoming the largest corporation in America.

While it hadn't yet completely dwarfed giants like Oscorp and Stark Industries, its influence — especially when combined with the Justice League's backing — meant that Wayne Enterprises was increasingly treated as its own separate entity on the global stage.

The companies from the representatives of the countries on the World Security Council kept coming, one after another, endlessly.

Until finally, Anton grew impatient.

He opened the interstellar network right in front of the Council and pulled up the information interface for the Chitauri.

"I think you should all be very familiar with these aliens..."

"I've told you before, these aliens are called the Chitauri. I'm fairly certain everyone here has their own channels to communicate with extraterrestrials, so you should have already confirmed this information."

"The entire universe knows that the Chitauri are Thanos' lapdogs."

"The reason Thanos sent the Chitauri to attack Earth is because he's had his eye on our planet for a long time."

"Earth has been one of his goals from the start."

"So, you can stop blaming Superman now. He is not the reason Thanos decided to launch a war."

"On the contrary, Superman's battle against Thanos is meant to avenge Earth — and to send a clear message that Earth is not a place for him to act arrogantly."

Anton spoke calmly, but his tone carried undeniable weight.

He knew perfectly well that the members of the World Council weren't ignorant of the truth.

But across the interstellar network, Thanos was frighteningly prestigious.

As a so-called "philosopher," Thanos had invaded countless civilizations, wiping out half their populations.

The World Council — and the nations they represented — were simply under immense pressure.

Their attacks on Anton were not really about fault.

They were panicking about one thing:

When would Superman come back?

After all, Earth had been preparing for this war for a long time.

If, when the battle began, their strongest weapon was missing — or worse, had run away — how could the fight have any meaning?

"Of course, I understand your concerns," Anton continued after a pause.

"In fact, Superman has already returned to Earth. Not long ago, he was mainly assisting our allies in Asgard, handling some special matters."

"If you need confirmation, feel free to contact Asgard directly."

"By the way," Anton added casually, "the King of Asgard, Odin, passed away on Earth about half a month ago. His life span came to an end.

Thor, his son, has now inherited the throne.

These past few days, Asgard has been busy dealing with Odin's funeral arrangements, which is why you haven't heard from them."

"But I can assure you..."

"When Thanos arrives, the Asgardians will bring their strongest warriors and stand with us."

"This is Thor's personal promise to Superman."

When Anton finished speaking, the representatives looked around at each other, visibly relieved.

"But there's more," Anton said suddenly.

"About Captain Marvel — or as she's listed in the old S.H.I.E.L.D. files — her real name is Carol Danvers.

Back in the 1990s, during the Kree invasion, she was the superhero who terrified the Kree into retreating."

"Is she the Earth woman we've seen standing next to Superman?"

someone asked, raising a hand eagerly.

"Correct," Anton nodded.

"Like Superman, she's been roaming the universe for years, building up strength and experience.

When Superman fought Thanos, Captain Marvel was a crucial ally."

"After contacting her last night, they should be arriving back on Earth — specifically the moon base — this evening."

"Of course, I expect they'll want to check in at the moon base first."

"I'll leave it to S.H.I.E.L.D. to arrange their official reception," Anton said, glancing toward the virtual meeting space where Director Phil Coulson sat silently, having no right to speak at the current level of the meeting.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. will be thrilled to see Carol... and their old director... return."

"And another thing..."

Anton turned his gaze sharply toward the U.S. representative.

"I'm not wasting my time contacting John Keller. You tell him to release Maria Rambeau.

She's an old friend of Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel has done immense work for us across the galaxy. The least we can do is show a little respect.

And besides, Rambeau isn't exactly a high-security asset."

"Understood," the U.S. representative said obediently.

Nominally, Anton's actions were supposed to be supervised and controlled by the World Security Council.

In reality, however, just like the national representatives sitting there in the virtual meeting room, none of them had the power to order Anton around anymore.

Who allowed the Justice League to control the most terrifying force on Earth?

After news spread across the interstellar network among the upper echelons of various nations, Superman's exploits in the universe had already been thoroughly investigated — and exaggerated — by them.

Even though Superman had only made two major moves — once in the Void, and once on Sakaar — the sheer identity of his opponents and the fact that Superman emerged completely unscathed spoke volumes about his true strength.

The Sakaar incident, while shocking, was still somewhat understandable.

After all, the Four Obsidian Generals were just individuals, no matter how powerful they were under Thanos' command.

It was the earlier event that truly shook the nations:

Superman had single-handedly obliterated a Kree fleet.

You have to understand — even Earth's combined effort to build the lunar base had only resulted in a force equivalent to two or three Kree fleet units.

And that's not a small achievement either.

In a typical remote galaxy, such power would be enough to easily conquer a primary interstellar civilization.

Frankly speaking, Earth had only just begun its first real contact with the universe — it could barely be considered a fledgling star-level civilization.

If not for Earth's accidental exposure to the interstellar network — and if nobody had warned them of Thanos' invasion — humanity might have only realized the threat once enemy ships descended through the atmosphere, by which point, it would have been too late.

The planet would have been devastated before they could even mount a defense.

"That's pretty much everything for today," Anton said, waving his hand.

He was just about to end the projection when he suddenly remembered something and added,

"By the way, the Justice League has a few alien allies planning to help with the construction of the lunar base.

They should be arriving within the next few days.

When they do, there's no need to panic — just communicate and cooperate with them as needed."

"Alright, that's basically it.

Any questions?"

Anton glanced around at the representatives projected in the virtual meeting room.

"I have a question," a voice spoke up.

It was T'Challa, the Black Panther — though he had not yet formally ascended to the throne.

It was rare for him to speak at these meetings.

He asked curiously,

"Who exactly are these alien allies of the Justice League?

And will they be participating in the battle?"

Anton smiled slightly.

"Most of you — especially the Americans — should already be very familiar with them."

The U.S. representative looked confused.

"Who are you talking about?"

Anton answered calmly,

"Transformers."

There was a collective intake of breath among the representatives.

"Don't forget," Anton continued, "that half of our modern scientific progress, and much of our technological foundation, was built by studying their bodies."

"Transformers?!"

The room erupted into whispers and exchanged looks.

The Americans, in particular, looked stunned.

It turned out that the Justice League had been maintaining contact with the Transformers all along!

At that moment, many in the meeting felt a lot more reassured.

Even back in the last century, Transformers had been one of America's most tightly guarded secrets.

Over the years, despite advancements in science and technology, no research had been able to fully bypass the influence of this silicon-based, metallic lifeform civilization.

Everyone knew the kind of highly advanced civilization Transformers hailed from.

Even though there wasn't much detailed information about the Transformers on the interstellar network, those on Earth who had interacted with them understood their power clearly.

The conclusion was simple:

The Justice League had made very thorough preparations for this coming battle.

The representatives from different nations exchanged complex looks.

They almost concluded that, perhaps as early as after the New York War, the Justice League had discovered the conspiracy behind the conflict. As a result, they had been preparing for the war that was about to break out.

All kinds of trump cards had already been played, and the power of the Justice League was truly shocking.

It could be said that although the Justice League had a small number of personnel, they had the ability to subvert a country by relying on their power and resources.

Moreover, it was not an ordinary small country in the Third World, but a world power.

After answering T'Challa's question, Anton waited to see if anyone else had further questions, and upon noticing the silence, he ended the meeting.

Headquarters of the Men in Black

After Anton finished the meeting and was about to leave, he noticed his deputy, Z, approaching him eagerly, looking at him with anticipation.

"Z, what's the matter?" Anton asked, a bit puzzled. "You look a little off today."

"Anton, did Transformers really come to help us?"

As a participant in the conference, Agent Z didn't have the authority to speak during the meeting, but he had been present alongside S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Coulson and had naturally learned about the Transformers from Anton.

As the deputy director of the Men in Black, Z could be considered one of the humans who knew the most about alien civilizations on Earth, especially the ones that had previously appeared.

Among them, Z had never met them in person, but he had heard of the "Heart-changing King Kong Civilization" or "Cybertron Civilization," which he regarded as his favorite alien civilization.

Which man could resist a "Transformer"?

Not to mention that modern human civilization was actually inextricably linked to the emergence of the Transformers. Without them, human science and technology might have taken decades, if not a century, to reach its current level.

It was the Transformers who unlocked the key to humanity's rapid progress.

"Yes," Anton smiled and replied. "They sent a spacecraft to the moon, carrying various weapons from the planet Cybertron, as well as the base modules I asked them to build. With those modules, we can construct a steel wall around the base in just a few days. Even Thanos would never be able to breach it!"

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