Technomancer in MCU #70

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Chapter 70

Technomancer in MCU

New York

–The People of New York–

All around the world, scores of people were glued to their screens, waiting and watching for the inevitable announcements that would soon follow the historic UN meeting that was about to happen in response to what is now widely known as the uprooting of H.Y.D.R.A.

The people, at first, were in panic as news of multiple influential people being killed one after the other began pouring in from across the globe but after a terrorist attack on the spy agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D that is now known as an attack by the same organisation that was responsible for the victory in the Chitauri invasion of 2012. The reason behind the attack was soon made public as someone from the same organisation had uncovered the insidious plot of the Nazi organisation wresting control of the mammoth spy organisation that spanned across the globe. 

The flood of classified documents that were leaked to the internet were damning and the panic in the public's minds soon turned to outrage over the fact that the people who were supposed to protect them had performed such a level of atrocities on them. The only reason riots were not happening across the globe was partly due to the efforts of Jarvis' efforts to scrub the web of some truly damning information and partially due to the presence of the very people who had managed to utterly destroy an organisation that was bigger than most countries and that too overnight. 

The people were scared but the people who usually tried to turn that fear into senseless violence in the name of protest or revolution were scared shitless of Ed and his technology reaching them somehow because the world had seen it.

They had seen how easily S.H.I.E.L.D as an organisation was uprooted and even the secrets that the governments supporting the agency themselves didn't know about, were uprooted and confiscated by Ed.

It was as if they did not care about their presence being made public knowledge. Many news channels had extensively documented multiple raids that, with people in mechanised suits dropping from advanced jets who could go invisible at will, were carried out in broad daylight. The hellish footage of the swarm of blackish-red machines that came out of Yellow Stone National Park was horrifying enough but the subsequent recording of the scene where the same type of swarm descended on a building in the middle of Italy and then left with a bigger swarm but with no trace of the previously constructed building was bone-chilling. People with keen observations soon realised that the swarm could actually reproduce by consuming their targets and after somebody had pointed out that the swarm didn't even leave bones of the people it ate, the thoughts of fear began taking root in people's minds, since in their minds, there was always the chance of that swarm going berserk and killing hundreds of thousands to millions of people before it could be stopped, it it could be stopped at all.

The fear soon turned into dread and terror when they saw another footage of an operation being carried out by some people wearing mechanised suits that left them with little doubt about the technological prowess of the organisation. The real kicker was the fact that many people in the video footage were seen performing feats of strength without any discernible external power suit on them. That gave them the doubt that maybe those people had ways to empower people like the Captain America but once they saw that they actually had people who could demolish entire buildings while uttering a single word and people who could just become Fire incarnate or fire lightning through their palms, control winds, emit light, etc, the people began realising that the things they were seeing were either not true or either the ugly truth that they had been hidden from all their lives.

With those thoughts in their minds, they soon reached the nearest place where they could see the conference unfolding in real-time as the time for it had come near since they could see the President of the United States along with the heads of government for all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council had arrived and were making their way to the United Nations Headquarters amid heavy security.

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New Attilan

–Ed–

"Ready?" he asked Alfred and in a sense, to the entire room as they were about to go on camera for the entire world to see, for the first time.

Everybody nodded, some confidently and some hesitantly but Alfred, being the smartass that he was, said, "I was born ready, as a matter of fact, just a few hours ago." Yeah, ever since his return, Alfred was being a hormonal smart-ass that just would not shut up.

They had just watched the interaction between Tony and the President and had adequately amused themselves doing so since the President of the United States displaying such a lack of spine made their jobs so much easier. Frank, in particular, had expressed disdain regarding the strength of character that was now nonexistent when it came to the Presidents and their lackeys they filled the key positions of the government with.

"King Black Bolt, I assume you know when you need to come in?" he asked Black Bolt and at his nod, he clapped, "Perfect! Everybody else, get in position. We will be positioning the carriers in a triangular formation right above the United Nations Headquarters. This is the first step of our grand plan. Come on, let's do this!" he nearly shouted towards the end as the entire team, sans Black Bolt since that would have been utterly disastrous, cheered.

As the team got to their respective positions, he and Alfred went to the Hangar from where they would be taking flight towards the headquarters all by themselves at first, on a floating carpet-type vehicle made of hard light. As the crew on New Attilan were making final checks on the plans, he thought of the response their entry on the global stage would bring.

The fact that all of the heads of governments that are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council were coming, was not entirely a surprise to them since he had made sure that evidence of their activities was made widely available to the public at large. If not for the mouthwatering technology he had on display, they would have certainly come for the superhuman potential displayed by the members of their team, not to mention the fact that having multiple members across different teams with similar power sets would indicate them being in possession of technology that was a level above the super soldiers that they had been failing to produce a single one of.

Truly, Dr.Erskine was a genius but it had been over 8 decades and these people still hadn't managed to make themselves one. It would be obvious that they would come like vultures after seeing the agents in action.

 Not to mention, the fear factor worked as well. Most of the governments had no idea about the true plans of H.Y.D.R.A and had almost unwittingly sponsored a project that would have taken away their own freedom. It was almost hilarious to think of.

After the checks were done and Alfred was done seemingly zoning out, something that they would be talking about later on, they alighted the "carpet" which was in truth, just a block of hard light made to look like a platform just like the ones the Chitauri riders used, just sleeker and better looking.

They had not yet uncloaked anything so the people could not see the carriers that were positioning themselves near the United Nations Headquarters but after they crossed a few streets, Alfred decloaked the carpet and as the military radars must have begun alerting them to their presence, he could sense multiple systems locking in on their vehicle.

Of course, that didn't break their stride and they continued on their way, heedless of the multiple warnings that came from some general who was trying to shout his way into their comms. 

After a while, probably due to orders from up above, the military stopped shouting and instead began trying to escort them, keyword being tried since they were going to take the same route anyway. On the way, he and Alfred both began waving towards the camera that was following them for the viewers at home watching TV. That pilot must have had balls of steel to get a civilian helicopter so close to a couple of F-35Bs that were hovering just behind Ed's carpet ride.

After a while, amid a sea of people shouting at them, the carpet landed on the ground in the middle of a cordoned-off area assigned for them to land and after they had alighted, the carpet behind them disappeared in motes of light, eliciting shocked gasps from the crowd and widened eyes from the officers surrounding them. Damn, that trick never went old.

As they crossed the doors of the building and the overwhelming noise of the crowd outside went silent, they came face to face with a crowd of scared and uneasy diplomats waiting just outside the lobby, seemingly waiting for him. 

He locked eyes with Tony who looked like he was about to say something but he didn't give him or anyone who wanted to say something to him a chance by just walking past everyone and into the assembly hall.

Inside, he could see a full assembly, which while rare for an emergency one, was not surprising to him due to the overall significance of this one.

The entirety of the crowd stood up, not in respect but in shock as, seemingly out of nowhere(when in reality, they were just cloaked) Frank, Daisy and Eric materialised behind him, all clad in their official suits.

Giving the permanent members a once over, he strode towards their elevated seats, the others following his footsteps. 

As he was about to reach the seats, a sleek metallic looking(when in reality it was the most comfortable chair in the entire building) chair materialised, startling all the heads of state, which then began floating down towards him and after he had taken a seat on it, took him to the center stage, keeping him in view of everyone. He could see the multitude of emotions that crossed everybody's eyes. Envy, Greed, Hate, Anger, Fear, all of it could be seen across everyone's faces.

"So, let's begin, shall we?" he said while resting his chin on his hand.

He could see a couple of diplomats' faces twist because of his indirect gesture that indicated his boredom for the meeting. 

He smirked, "I'm sure you all have a lot of questions for me. Well, last time I tried this, it didn't make it to the outside world so this time, I decided to just do it out in the open where it would be visible for all to see."

The entire assembly was silent at his question, none daring to be the first to question him as they were unsure of his official stance.

"Well, unlike a certain Captain, I don't have all day," his words jolted them out of their thoughts and like kids in a kindergarten, they all began falling all over themselves to be the first ones to ask the questions.

"Geez, they are even worse than the reporters I had heard about," he heard Daisy mutter under her breath but intentionally or unintentionally, the permanent members heard her and gave her odd looks at that statement.

Alfred rolled his eyes at the chaos and instead of doing something sensible, decided to do a repulsor ricochet in his hand, which generated a loud boom that rattled the surrounding windows and made the security pour in the hall, thinking that an attack had occurred.

As nearly a hundred people were aiming their guns at him, he deadpanned at Alfred, "Really?" He had the decency to look sheepish but he knew for a fact that he was actually proud of inciting more chaos.

As most of the diplomats began retreating to the corners of the room, he noticed that none of the permanent member heads had moved, even though POTUS looked rather drunk. 

"Well, I think we got on the wrong foot due to the actions of a certain someone. We are not the bad guys here and I would personally like to take the initiative to answer a question that I am sure is on the minds of everyone watching," he said while keeping his laid-back attitude, even in the face of hundreds of guns, some of which were clearly experimental, made evident by their hodge podge mixture of alien and human tech.

"We are the Ascendency and we are the only things standing between Humanity and the unimaginable horrors that exist out in the darkness of space. I am Ed Thorton, the leader of Ascendency, and today, I am here to answer the questions of the common public that I have sworn to protect." Here, he gestured to the seats in front of him and said, "So, please, let's begin." 

And then he sat down in the same bored, barely interested posture on his chair or in Alfred's words, the Big ass Throne.

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Word Count - 2269

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A/N - I realise that this arc too has overstayed its welcome and promise to finish it in the next chapter and give you the battle I had teased in one of the previous chapters.

Thank you for reading!

Toodles!