CHAPTER 41 - THE DISCUSSION II

The meeting continued in a more subdued atmosphere after Vision ousted a corrupted member of the ministers and he was dragged away by law enforcement agents. 

Though he had more outright damning material that could put more than half of the people here in jail for a lifetime, doing that would only backfire against him and the Avengers as a whole. 

Not to mention that it was just not possible for him to thoroughly uproot every corrupt personnel in government, all the way down to the armed forces. Corruption was a part of every ruling system. 

Well, he could stop this but that was if he wanted to embark in the road of a tyrant but that was a thought he abhorred. 

The more the talks went on, the more he became convinced that none of the people here mattered. At least not in the grand scheme of things. 

The only reason he entertained whatever this farce was instead of just slamming a 'fuck you' in their faces was because he wanted to prevent anything related to a civil war between any super-powered coalition. 

He stole some glances at the Fantastic Four and saw how uncomfortable they were with the stipulations presented but unlike how he and Steve adamantly rejected it, they looked like they were actually considering it if a few concessions were to be made. 

Even Tony looked unsure as more time went on. He said less and less, and most of the time he could be found deep in thought that he had to be tapped by Vision when his attention was called. 

Vision was the one who was mostly speaking for the Avengers with support from Tony every now and then and little input from Steve. 

"The problem is how your view toward mutants is constructed." Vision spoke after listening to what they had to say over and over again. 

"And what do you mean by that?" 

"Candidly, most of your opinions are based on ignorance. The fact that you are forcing them into coming out will do more harm than good and if not for the greed and lust for power that drives you, this would have been the turning point of humanity as a whole, instead you are condemning it." A few teeth ground against each other while damning scowls and snarls echoed throughout the hall until someone spoke up after feeling off put by the android. 

"Are you saying we are fools who don't know how to make the best decision for the betterment of our country and people?" The way he asked the question was a dead giveaway that he wanted Vision to stumble before he was bombarded with questions, but he had no idea about how Vision dealt with such scenarios.

Bluntness. "If you are not fools then what are you? Clearly you cannot see the benefits presented with the emergence, so no doubt I would have no other option to call you foolish as the definition fits."

"Whoa whoa. Slow your roll, player. Don't you think that's a bit far?" Tony hurriedly dragged Vision down to his seat in panic after the blatant dressing down he just gave the room full of lawmakers. 

Vision shook his head at Tony and faced the yellow-faced audience and gave them another dose of facts before any of them could retort. 

"In the late 90s and early 21st century, a man known as Magneto almost toppled the country's military with his power over electromagnetism. Tell me, what can you do against that? Or maybe someone who can run faster than the fastest bullets or someone impervious to physical damage and pain?" He said and then stated with utmost confidence something none of them wanted to hear.

"This country cannot support a war against mutants."

That was all it took for the room to devolve into chaos as everybody started raising their voices just so they could be heard. 

Apart from Vision, no one else knew that there was a few groups of people listening in on what was being said in the room 

The eavesdroppers weren't using the standard methods so it was a little hard for Vision to trace them back but the one he was most sure who it belonged to came from the telepathic wave that covered the entire room during the duration of the meeting. 

"Uhm, excuse me." Someone called out to Vision as they were just about leaving and turning back, they saw a group of three familiar faces making their way towards them. 

"Reed, Susan, Johnny. Good to see you guys again." Steve greeted the incomplete hero group and they all greeted back enthusiastically. "Do you guys need anything?" He asked. 

Reed then spoke a little embarrassed, "Actually I wanted to speak with Vision about a few things."

"About what?" This time it was Tony who asked. 

"He wanted to have a talk with Vision here. You know how he is with things that catch his interest." Johnny explained. 

They all looked at Vision but unexpectedly he shook his head before making a concession. "I am quite pressed for time at the moment and I also wasted quite a bit of it playing along with that farce so maybe another time." Vision said and then continued his walk. 

"He's kind of a hard guy to talk to." Johnny said as they left the place. 

"Why did you want to talk to him, Reed?" Sue asked curiously. 

"Why wouldn't I want to talk to him?" He looked as if he couldn't understand their ignorance of his reasons. "He is a fully sentient self-developing AI. Did you see how he schooled the entire room? I just wanted to have a few discussions with him. Maybe even figure out his thought processes."

"And you are forgetting about the crazy psionic energy readings you got from him right?" Johnny asked but depending on his expression, his words were anything but. 

Reed was taken aback and scratched his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, that too."

"Why did you even bring that thing here?" Sue wondered. 

"Oh that? It was to block any psionic interference in the room." He simply said as they started walking to their car, ignoring the looks they were getting from the paparazzi and lawmakers. 

"Psionic interference? You mean mind control? You thought they might be a telepath in the room?" Sue asked in shock. 

"Not necessarily, there might have been some around the perimeter but I know there was some telepathic presence in the room but they just listened in, no mind possession, though I'm not completely sure." He frowned at his own words and brought out a round disk from his pockets, inspecting it with scrutiny before he sighed and kept it. 

Johnny didn't miss the skeptic gleam in his eyes as he looked over the device, so he asked. "Vision?"

"For some reason, I doubt something like this would have stopped him if he was psychic."

The siblings looked at each other before shrugging which allowed Sue to ask something that had been on her mind since the nature of the meeting was revealed. "What do you think about the Accords?" Her voice was as casual as it could be, showing no importance to the question asked. 

Reed looked at Sue and simply answered his honest thoughts. "While there might be truth in Vision's words, the risks it presents far outweighs whatever benefits he probably calculated. The present situation is akin to a virus, better to have it under control at its initial stage than let it fester unsupervised."

His words caused the siblings to frown slightly and Johnny expressed his disconcert. "I feel you man, but we all know how it's going to backfire. While it might not be as grim as the Vision dude made it sound, it wouldn't be pretty either."

Reed merely chuckled at those words and waved it off. "No such thing, I assure you." 

"Whatever you say man."

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