Chapter 32: Moving Forward

The burning in my throat lingered long after there was nothing left to throw up.

I stayed where I was, one hand braced against the rough bark of the tree while I forced myself to breathe slowly.

Every muscle in my body felt strangely heavy, and although the nausea had finally begun to subside, the memory refused to leave.

No matter how many times I reminded myself that it had been necessary, I could still feel the warmth of blood on my hand and the resistance of flesh beneath my fingers.

Footsteps approached from behind.

Diablo stopped beside me without saying a word.

When I looked up, he simply held out a bottle of water and a neatly folded handkerchief.

There was no concern on his face, nor any curiosity.

He didn’t ask whether I was alright because he already knew there wasn’t an answer that would change anything.

I accepted both with a quiet nod before taking a long drink.

The cold water washed away the bitter taste in my mouth, and after rinsing it once more, I splashed what remained across my face.

The cool sensation helped more than I expected.

By the time I wiped my face with the handkerchief, the dizziness had almost completely disappeared.

Without exchanging another word, we returned to the car.

Diablo restarted the engine, merged back onto the highway, and continued driving as though nothing had happened.

Outside, traffic flowed normally.

People overtook us, music drifted from passing vehicles, and somewhere in the distance a family laughed while crossing the street.

The ordinary rhythm of the world continued completely unaware that only a few miles behind us, someone had lost his life.

Neither of us interrupted the silence.

I rested my head against the window and watched the city roll by while trying to organize the storm inside my mind.

Every time my thoughts drifted back toward the warehouse, I forced them elsewhere.

There was nothing left to gain from replaying those moments.

The man was dead.

That fact wouldn’t change no matter how long I tortured myself with it.

Nearly fifteen minutes passed before Diablo finally spoke.

“My Lord… are you alright?”

I didn’t answer immediately.

My eyes remained fixed on the passing buildings while I considered the question.

Was I alright?

No.

I doubted I would ever completely forget what I’d done today.

The memory would probably stay with me for the rest of my life.

But whether I was alright no longer mattered.

After several quiet seconds, I finally nodded.

“Yes.”

The answer sounded calm, though I knew Diablo understood it wasn’t entirely true.

I let out a slow breath before speaking again, forcing my thoughts away from the warehouse and toward the future.

“We don’t have time, Diablo.”

He glanced at me briefly before returning his attention to the road, waiting for me to continue.

“If I keep dwelling on today, then everything I’ve been trying to build will fall behind. The world isn’t going to slow down just because I had a difficult day.” I rubbed my eyes, feeling the last traces of exhaustion slowly disappear beneath familiar determination.

“We’re going to have to accelerate everything.”

A faint nod was all the response Diablo gave.

“As you command, My Lord.”

The conversation ended there, but the silence between us no longer felt heavy.

It had become the comfortable silence of two people who understood one another without needing unnecessary words.

Almost another minute passed before a different thought surfaced in my mind.

“What did your investigation uncover about Vibranium?”

Diablo didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he took a few seconds to organize everything he had learned before giving his report.

“Unfortunately, My Lord, I couldn’t find anything beyond what was already known. Every reliable source reaches the same conclusion. The only confirmed Vibranium deposits on Earth belong to Wakanda and the Talokan Kingdom.”

I rested my arm against the door and watched the highway disappear beneath us.

The answer wasn’t surprising.

If another Vibranium deposit had been easy to discover, Wakanda would’ve lost its greatest advantage decades ago.

“Tell me exactly how you searched.”

“My investigation focused on regions where geological surveys indicated the presence of valuable metals. Public mining records, geological reports, and satellite data were cross-referenced. Islands, mountain ranges, and remote regions with promising mineral compositions were all examined, but nothing suggested the existence of another Vibranium deposit.”

I nodded slowly but didn’t respond.

Instead, I found myself replaying everything I’d been studying recently.

I’d buried myself in engineering, geology, physics, and material science.

I wasn’t an expert—not even close—but I understood enough to follow how modern exploration actually worked.

Mining companies didn’t simply drill wherever they wanted and hope for the best.

Long before the first machine touched the ground, they studied the land through seismic surveys, magnetic mapping, and gravitational analysis.

Different minerals disturbed the earth in different ways, leaving behind patterns that experienced geologists had learned to recognize.

“So modern exploration has become accurate enough to locate deposits buried hundreds of meters underground…” I murmured, more to myself than to Diablo.

“Yes, My Lord.”

“Then why hasn’t anyone found another Vibranium deposit?”

Diablo remained silent.

It wasn’t really a question for him.

I continued thinking aloud.

“Either every geologist on the planet has somehow overlooked the most valuable metal in existence…”

I shook my head.

“…or they’ve been looking at it without realizing what they’re seeing.”

Diablo glanced at me through the rear-view mirror.

“My Lord?”

“What is Vibranium’s most famous property?”

“It absorbs and stores kinetic energy.”

“Exactly.”

I leaned forward slightly.

“And how do seismic surveys work?”

He thought for a moment before answering.

“They send vibrations through the earth and analyze the waves that return.”

I stared at him for a second.

Then I smiled.

“So what happens when those vibrations reach Vibranium?”

Diablo frowned.

His eyes narrowed as the implication struck him.

“…They wouldn’t return.”

“Exactly.”

I leaned back against the seat.

“The survey wouldn’t show a rich deposit. It would show missing data. Something impossible. Most geologists would assume the equipment malfunctioned.”

The more I considered it, the more sense it made.

A metal that absorbed kinetic energy wouldn’t behave like any ordinary mineral.

It would interfere with the very methods humanity used to find it.

“Change how you’re searching,” I said.

Diablo immediately nodded.

“What would you have me look for instead, My Lord?”

“Forget Vibranium for a moment. I want every geological survey that ended with more questions than answers—contradictory readings, unexplained equipment failures, reports companies abandoned because the data refused to make sense. If enough people walked away believing the instruments were wrong, that’s exactly where I want to look.”

“I understand.”

I continued before he could ask another question.

“Start around the Yucatán coast and the Puerto Rico Trench. I’m not expecting you to discover Vibranium itself. I want you to understand the pattern it leaves behind.”

Diablo remained silent, waiting for me to elaborate.

“Talokan lies somewhere beneath those waters. If Vibranium really affects the surrounding geology, then the deposits beneath Talokan should leave behind the same geological fingerprint as the ones beneath Wakanda. Finding Vibranium is still the goal. Understanding how it hides is simply the fastest way to get there.”

I paused for a moment before adding another instruction.

“Stay away from anything that could belong to Namor. Wakanda remained hidden for centuries, and I’d be surprised if Talokan were any less cautious. I don’t know how they monitor their borders, and I’m not interested in finding out. If the pattern continues into their territory, pull back and find another location. The world is too large for Talokan to be the only place where it exists.”

“It will be done, My Lord.”

I nodded.

“Every deposit leaves a fingerprint. Gold has one. Uranium has one. Vibranium should be no different.”

Silence settled over the car again.

After nearly a minute, Diablo finally spoke.

“My Lord… if your theory is correct, then humanity may have encountered Vibranium before without ever realizing it.”

A faint smile crossed my face.

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking. Every time a survey produced impossible data or readings that couldn’t be explained, they probably blamed faulty equipment and moved on.”

I looked out at the passing landscape.

“Everyone else searched for Vibranium.”

I smiled faintly.

“We’ll search for the places they stopped looking.”