CHAPTER 115 - PRELUDE TO CHANGE II

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[Vision POV]

Turns out that a fight like that was something I needed to calm my nerves. It felt like taking a cold bath after a sunny day. 

As for Selene escaping, I don't have anything to say on that. It is what it is. There was very little either I or Wanda could do about it. 

As for the ring I nabbed off Shaw, which Tony then nabbed off me, it consisted of a few things such as hidden caches, blackmail material, secret intelligence, and a few other things he didn't dare hide on the internet.

Shaw was as meticulous as he was cautious that he wrote every single digit of ones and zeroes by himself onto the chip. 

[Task completed] 

[A few data trails have been identified with the possibility of leading to the individual named 'Sublime' being 89%] 

"This is more than enough." Better than any other thing available to me at the moment. 

"I'm leaving for a few minutes to take care of a small problem." I said to the team a few seconds after we came back and beamed myself to the first location marker. 

There are eighteen data trails, which means eighteen bodies that Sublime most have inhabited recently. 

I meticulously went through every single person on the list, even combing through their memories to make sure that none of Sublime's residual imprints were left in their head. 

"This will take more than a few minutes." 

And like that I went through everyone on the list and it wasn't until I came to the thirteenth person that I finally found who I was looking for. 

The moment I identified his presence, I shrunk down to atomic size and entered the middle aged man's head and came face to face with the slimey fucker.

Of course he tried escaping as soon as he saw me but given that I was blocking any telepathic wave from leaving and entering this man's body, he quickly understood that he was trapped in here with me. 

Now how do I kill a sentient bacteria with more IQ than the average genius? 

Since every single part of his body is a collective mind of its own, I don't think killing him the same way like I did Essex will work. 

"Maybe I should do it the traditional way and kill it with fire. Yeah, that should work."

With all the headaches this little piece of evolution waste caused me since I started looking for him, I wasn't interested in hearing even a word from it and started blasting it with an unhealthy dose of lightning. 

It was strangely durable so I botched up the output and even added the Mind Stone to the mix to make sure that I get every sentient part of this parasite. 

A few more minutes of complete erasure and humanity was now less one bacteria. A very good deed on my part. 

After making doubly sure that he was truly gone, I didn't waste another second and went back from whence I came. 

'Sublime, gone. Hellfire Club, taken care of. Hero sanctions and mutants rights, still ongoing.' 

With how active we've been in the last few days in stopping any instances of chaos across the country, the number of people who supported us for standing against the Accords stealthily grew in number. 

Alongside it was video evidence being posted online of American military agents forcefully abducting mutants, or at least tried to only to be stopped by either the Avengers, Magneto's revived Brotherhood or Charles' X-Men. 

No one needed to put the persuasion act on display as the citizens and scared mutants happily denounced the current government and their policies. 

The president didn't even know how to respond when a court hearing for the petition of his impeachment was approved. 

They had to sacrifice somebody, and not just any low level runt, but someone at the top or near the top of the power pyramid to appease the public. 

A few politicians were even afraid of picking a side and chose to remain neutral and kept their mouth shut, fearing that they would be the next ones featured on the 9 O'clock news. 

"All good for me either way. Either being too scared to make a move or being too rattled to calmly think of a game changer, you all are just where I want you to be."

"Maybe I can take a brief period to relax after all this?" I wondered out loud and concluded that it wasn't such a bad idea. 

I've been too active lately, maybe take a few weeks to just sit back and relax after everything settles down. 

°°°°°°°°

[Selene Gallio's POV] 

The black fog covering her vision cleared away and she was back in her throne room where she faltered for a bit but held herself together and sat down on her throne with royal dignity despite the dried blood splattered over her body. 

"My Lady!" One of her attendants entered the throne room and gasped in shock as she saw a sight she had never seen before. 

Before she could make any more of a ruckus, Selene silenced her with her hands and spoke with a seductive voice that felt deathly frigid to the attendant who heard it. 

"Prepare my bath for me."

The attendant bowed and retreated from the throne room to carry out the Lady's order.

Selene looked at her hands and clicked her tongue and in the next moment, all her wounds and broken bones were healed. "Much better."

Remembering the details of the fight, her irrigation came back and so did the desire to rip off Wanda's skin from her bones, especially when she remembered what the girl had said to her. 

"You and him both. I will have my fill of the two of you until I grow bored and then have you watch as I slowly pull out your life from your body."

She sighed and composed herself and stood up from her throne to take her bath. 

Getting riled up by such upstarts with every single thing they do does not fit her bearing and noble grace. 

She closed her eyes and relaxed in her bath as four female servants washed and worshiped her body to her feet until she was content. 

"Maybe I'll use them to stave off boredom for the coming decade or two." She mused with a wistful grin. 

°°°°°°°

Just like Vision said, the current situation didn't last long. Or rather he did not want it to last long.

If they continue stretching it for a longer time frame, the people's resentment and anger will bundle together with their frustrations and fear of what might happen tomorrow and before you know it, city-wide panic will ensue and then comes the civil war. 

Waiting for the reaction of the public won't be a good thing for anyone and the fact that the country was made vulnerable in front of the whole world forced them to kick the president to the sharks. 

So it came to no surprise when after a few days of blowing up people's cover, over 80% of both the American citizens and the legislature supported the president's impeachment. 

It has been well over a week since everything started and the first thing the person who was acting as the president did was immediately call for another hearing to lighten the stipulations stated on the Accords, if not outright remove it, and abolishing the Registration Act. 

It was also at the same time when Dr. Sarah Kinney, one of the world's leading researchers of the mutant X-gene, developed a compact gene suppressing bracelet for civilian use to help mutants in controlling their powers better. 

It came in a plethora of various forms and sizes and the company behind all this was none other than Stark Industries. 

With a lot of the old legislators facing a heap of legal and illegal crimes, a whole lot of elections were going to be held in the following months to fill in all the vacant seats.

It was as if everybody was given a clean state to start from zero and though the hate towards mutants was still there, people were at least learning to be considerate. 

If they were this hateful and biased towards their own kind, then why were they still talking of making contact with aliens in the future and hopefully establishing a healthy relationship with them?

No one knows who brought up the question but many people felt that it was reasonable. 

Why make movies about aliens crash landing on earth and making friends with humans when they can't even make friends with themselves? 

All in all, the country was in a very delicate position and everyone was being reflective. That and keeping a closer eye on the new bastards who will be contesting for the upcoming elections. 

The X-Men went back to their mansion, beyond grateful to Wanda who helped them secure not only Cerebro, but also their building. 

They could have moved and lived on one of Charles' other estates but they refused and went back to their old site. The destroyed surroundings needed some work but thankfully they were mutants, which made it a hundred times much easier. 

The Avengers returned back the displaced mutants they had rescued and while some returned to their old homes, some chose to return with Charles and others went with Erik. 

As for Vision, he was seriously contemplating if he should rent a house and get a day job. Carefully weighing his options while spending almost all of his time with Wanda.