The Charade of Fakes

Charles had no interest in Wakanda right now. He believed that S.H.I.E.L.D and Tony will try to contact King T'Chaka and use the bargaining chip of Erik Killmonger and world piece to get Vibranium from them.

But He knew that T'Chaka was a tough nut to crack. He was not T'Chala, who would just give away a prosthetic hand made out of Vibranium to his dad's killer, no.

There was a reason that no one knew about the most advanced civilization on earth, and that was his absolute refusal of sharing the Wakandan Vibranium, and their technology.

It will take quite some time for them to convince T'Chaka, because he won't die as he did in the movies, courtesy of Charles messing up the plot.

Coming to the matter of Maximoff twins, they also had a long way to go before they received powers Charles was interested in, and hence he decided to move with his next course of action.

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Charles was to receive 'The Presidential Medal of Freedom' today for his brave performance in the War.

Since S.H.I.E.L.D was supposed to be an American Security Services, this medal was given to them in private, mainly to Natasha Romanoff and Nick Fury.

Clint Barton and Hulk did more harm than good so they were excluded, Thor was out of the world, as well as not a citizen of the United States so he was also excluded, and Tony Stark was busy making his army of Iron Armours and trying to find and hack into Wakanda for their Vibranium.

There was a huge function going on in the Constitution Hall in Washington DC, and the main focus and limelight of this was obviously Charles, who would receive this medal today.

It was an exceptional case since he was born in England, but his popularity was way bigger than the vote bank of the President right now, and he already had citizenship for a long time and hence he was invited by Madam President to receive this Honour.

"Charles….Charles I LOVE YOU!"

"Mr. Magnussen, please look at me!!!"

"Mr. Magnusses, who was that girl who kissed you that day!? Look, I am way prettier than her."

"Charles! When will you release your new book!?"

Everyone was screaming his name and trying to tell him something.

When a fan following takes off, they lose all rhymes and reasons. They will even defend you fiercely over a crime you might've committed by giving dubious reasons. They were scary sometimes, but they were a kind of an army, an Internet army who would strike down every argument against you like a fascist cult and would keep promoting you to new heights.

Charles arrived in front of the Constitution Hall in an entourage of cars with bodyguards all around.

He looked at his fans all around and smiled and waved at them, after which he went inside the Hall and shook hands with the White House's Security Chief and other Big wigs from the Military and Secret Services.

"Mr. Charles! It's so nice to see you! I must say, I am a big fan of almost all of your novels. And when I saw you that day going up with that missile, my heart stopped! Please never do that again." Said one General Ross while shaking his hand, acting completely out of his usual character.

'Charade of fakes, and I fit in perfectly' Thought Charles in his mind as he shook hands with the Conservative and Liberal party leaders while they told him how much they liked him and Charles just kept nodding and smiling.

It wasn't new for him to be in a situation like this, as in his last world, even Britain's Prime Minister was his puppet and he influenced many new laws there.

Soon, everyone settled down and the host started to introduce Charles, the media houses present there, the key guests that were present there, and then Finally Madam President who had just arrived.

"On 14th March, We all saw what a terrible tragedy happened in New York. At that time, we all felt powerless to do anything and our hearts were ripped apart at seeing innocent lives getting crushed under the onslaught of Alien armies.

But at that crucial time, One man stepped up and singlehandedly saved the entire New York City from an even greater tragedy, and today, We would like to honour that legend with the President's Medal of Freedom!

So I would request both Madam President, as well as Dr. Charles Augustus Magnussen to come to the stage please."

The host's speech was long and boring while the censored video of what happened in the war was playing behind.

They very conveniently pushed the blame of approving Nuclear warhead on American lives to the "Rogue" Security Council, which they obviously terminated.

There was another speech of how Madam President and her party were doing everything in their power to help and rebuild Manhattan from that destruction.

Finally, as the host's speech was ending, she called him and the President who he hadn't even met yet on the stage.

The reason the host used Dr. in front of Charles's name, was because many universities from around the world, and even some Ivy League colleges started giving Charles an honorary doctorate in Literature and Art.

This wasn't anything new, they did it for every famous personality.

As Madam president arrived, many people cheered for her which put a smile on her face, but as soon as Charles arrived on the stage, the Constitution Hall exploded with cheers, shouts and applause.

There was a standing ovation in the hall for what seemed like twenty minutes and Charles hadn't even been given the honour yet.

The smile on the Madam President's became stiff while looking at this, and every politician in the room, including her, was thinking how to recruit him to their party.

Charles finally acknowledged the cheering crowd and waved at them to quiet down and soon, the Hall became silent.

"Mr. Charles, I believe we haven't been introduced yet. I am Alison Blaire, the 42nd President of the United States."

"It's pleasure to meet you, Alison, I am Charles Augustus Magnussen."

Charles was very particular about his social etiquettes, and that would mean he would never call someone he just met with their first name, unless that person tells him to, and in case of meeting a president, NO ONE would call a President by their first name in their presence.

The President didn't even register this until after he kissed the back of her hand to keep up the appearance of his gentleman side in front of the Media who was broadcasting this Ceremony worldwide.

May Parker and Peter were also watching this, Peter a little excited, while May had questions in her mind.

Charles had not visited her after the War, and nor had he called her.

She thought that he might be injured and needed time for recuperating, but looking at him now, on TV, Charles seemed perfectly fine and she was feeling uneasy.

Sure she didn't reveal their relationship with Charles to anyone, but that was because she didn't want media around her house every day and night and risk Peter's privacy and education. It was a critical time for him and she didn't want to disturb him.

She thought back to the time a woman just came and kissed Charles after the war. At first, she consoled herself by telling herself that she might be a fan and she did that out of emotion, but after seeing their pictures together at either restaurants or movies by magazine paparazzi, even that hope was squashed.

'Was I that bad?' She thought as she tried to remember if she was ever more than a bed warmer for him. Did she ever do something amazing for him whilst he even took her to his First-ever book's launch party?

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The Ceremony at Washington had ended after long speeches from both the President and Charles.

Right now, they were sitting at the dining table inside of the White House where he was a dinner guest today and across the dining table, Alison Blaire, the president was sitting.

If you would look closely you'd see that Alsion was shaking while looking at a glass screen the size of an iPad in her hand and there were sweat beads all over her forehead while Charles casually cut a piece of steak from his plate and put it inside of his mouth with a fork.

"The Dinner was really good" He commented as looked at Alsion with a cynical smile

"But now I want dessert."

After saying this, he wiped his mouth with a napkin and started walking towards her, and with his every step, Alison started contracting in herself out of fear.

'This man is no Hero….He is a Devil' She thought as she avoided any eye contact with him while he casually dragged a chair from the side, and sat close to her.

On the screen which was in her hand, there was a video playing but everything instantly faded away and the screen quickly dispersed into thousands of Nanobots from her hand and transformed into a spider and climbed inside of Charles's front pocket.

"I was 17…" She feebly said as Charles just smiled at her in the empty room.

"A Murder, is still a murder. You think the Jury, or the Congress will let you continue as the President?"

He said as he put his right hand on her hands which were clutching her napkin.

"Don't touch me! You repel me." She said as she glared at Charles but couldn't bring up the courage to fling away his hand or call the security.

"That's no way to talk to your owner" Replied Charles as he exerted a little pressure on her hands and she pinched her eyes with pain.

"You don't own me!" She uttered with gritted teeth.

Suddenly Charles left her hand, which had a red impression of his grip imprinted, and came up close and licked Alison's cheek.

"The world, is wet to my touch" He said word by word after which he smiled and grabbed a napkin from the table.

"The dessert at the White House is hot trash. Maybe you shouldn't have been a part of all those group orgies in the past." Charles said as he wiped his tongue with the napkin which immediately vanished in smoke and walked away from the room while Alison started to weep in silence with her eyes closed, never letting them open for fear that she might see him still in the White House.

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The Next day, an incredible piece of news came.

"Last night when Dr. Charles Augustus Magnussen, The National Hero...Or should we say the Hero of the World was leaving the White House after having dinner with the President, there was an attempt on his life and the President has decided that he will be given S+ Security while the White House investigates the culprits."

Charles was sitting in a nice garden, drinking tea and reading a newspaper with his Hexagonal glasses on.

"Finally, No interruptions." He said as now, even S.H.I.E.L.D will have to first take permission from Madam President before they are allowed to meet him and Madam President was not meeting anyone at the moment.

"VERONICA, Don't take calls from anyone except Maria, Tony, Pepper, my Publishing house, and Nick Fury. Whenever they call, just tell them that I am busy and even don't pick up their calls at random times.

Alison has already declared that I was injured in the attack and need rest so it shouldn't be a problem."

"As you wish, Master"

Charles got up after drinking his tea and went inside the palace he was given to live in.

Climbing downstairs, Charles went into the basement which wasn't even looking like a basement.

It was so bright, neat and tidy, with marbles and jewels all around.

This was President's secret asylum in case a President needs to stay away from the public.

It was common to give a President something like this but right now, It was Charles's place to commence his next part of the plan.

Charles pulled out a sling ring which he used in the past before mastering the portal magic without it, but right now, he had doubts if even wearing this would work.

After wearing the ring, he came in the center of what seemed to be a transmutation circle drawn on the floor and he closed his eyes and started making hand signs.

Charles obviously learned the dark sorcery from the books of the Kamar Taj library and he was now trying to open a portal.

Suddenly, he stretched out his hand while the transmutation circle started to glow purple and he started to draw a circle in the air, but instantly, the sling ring couldn't handle the magic and shattered.

"Well"

Soon, The Vibranium nanobots he made with Veronica's help climbed out of his pocket and became the sling ring on his index finger, and he started to try again.

What Charles was doing now was trying to open a portal to a different planet.

He didn't have the Magic for that so he was using the spell the Ancient One of the past used to extend her lifespan, to empower himself with the magic from the dark dimension and successfully open the portal.

This magic was forbidden by the Ancient One because once you use it, the darkness tries to take control over you, influence you but Charles, whose even brain was being continuously nurtured by the Bio-Vibranium in his body, those whispers from the Dark Dimension were barely even audible to him.

Charles very easily ignored them and any danger to his psyche was laughable, because it was corrupted a long time back.

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For three day, Charles kept on trying to create the portal but he was unsuccessful.

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Alison Blaire was sitting in her office when suddenly there was a knock on the door which snapped her out of her daze.

"Come in. Yes, tell me"

"Good Afternoon Madam President. Ma'am, for the last three days, All the food that we send to Dr. Magnussen is left at his villa's doorsteps. Should we go and check on his? The security assigned to him is concerned"

'His Villa?' Alison thought in her heart as she wished that the monster which was Charles Augustus Magnussen would die of starvation.

"No need. Mr. Magnussen has requested complete privacy. He must be working on his book. Don't worry, the doctors are still giving him glucose through the cannula while he recovers." Replied Alison to pacify her secretory.

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Wanda knew where she had seen that man from the woods before. His face resembled that of Charles Augustus Magnussen, who was on the books of Harry Potter as their author.

'What other books has he written?' She thought as she couldn't wait for the next time when she can choose a book to endure her time in her prison of torture.