When the global storm was born, it covered that hemisphere of the planet unnaturally fast—fast enough that its outer ring was already touching Europe, Asia, and Oceania within seconds.
Trillions of tonnes of air were displaced in moments—that's the type of global storm it was. Buildings should have been ripped from the ground, water should have been moving so fast it would cut like blades, hail should have been deadlier than bullets, and debris-loaded winds should have eroded mountains in minutes.
At least, that's how it should have been. But Aragorn's psionic clone held a layer of dense air 1,000 meters (~1,100 yards) above the ground, buffering the disastrous effects of the storm. The clone held long enough for Ororo Monroe to take over.
Sadly, during the time it took her to put the meteorological monster to sleep, destruction couldn't be entirely avoided. Even with Aragorn's buffer layer, billions were affected.
Civilization was already barely holding on due to the aftermath of the fight between 'Lord Alduin' and the Goblin Force. The storm simply made matters worse.
But the storm wasn't the only disaster intensifying humanity's peril. Earthquakes, tectonic shifts, floods, changes in the magnetic field, shifts in the planet's tilt, and finally, a massive burst of photonic irradiation—blessed be the Phoenix Force, who stepped in and shielded the planet from a blighted future.
The initial damage containment left Jean and Ororo out for the count. Both omega-level mutants had overexerted themselves dealing with the worst of the disasters.
Even though the worst part was over, everything was still falling apart. Massive tsunamis had been settled, but tectonic plates were still shifting, causing regular earthquakes and tsunamis.
The global storm had dispersed, but the weather remained chaotic.
Not to mention the massive interference caused by the shadow sword locked in battle with the light shield in the atmosphere.
Above, the Halo was causing as much panic as the sword. A structure of such caliber, clearly beyond the planet's technological level, had appeared during the apocalypse and defended the world from the monsters' fight.
There were many questions, but almost no one had time to ask them. The surface was still falling apart. Aside from Antarctica and America, all continents were fiercely battling the aftereffects of the clash.
"Bucky, do you think you could do something about the sword?"- Seraph asked the resident expert in shadows.
The conscious members of The Crystal's command were having a quick conference to decide how to proceed with the aftercare.
Not everyone was present. Seraph, for example, was attending via projection, as she was still busy fixing the repercussions of the artificial explosion of the Yellowstone Supervolcano.
James wasn't physically there either—he was on-site, analyzing the shadow sword.
They had also called in Margaret, Selene, and Steve for consultation.
"From what I can tell, Aragorn's shield spell matrix is designed to disperse the light construct once we remove the shadow sword. That's the good news. The bad news is, it'll take me a month and a half of full concentration to take over the sword. Since we're assuming Aragorn won't return soon, I'd have my wives guard my body in rotation, except for Nat, since she's pregnant."- Bucky reported and offered his solution.
"Bucky, is there a need to remove the sword?"- Steve Rogers asked.
"Not exactly, but yes. The shield isn't losing ground to the sword, but there might be third parties interested in it. So, as a precaution, I think it's best if we do."
"I agree; I'd be interested in it."- Selene Gallio's projection chimed in. She was helping in Nairobi, Kenya. She wasn't usually one to help, but her child's future depended on Aragorn's willingness to assist her.
"How's the emergency relief through Daybreak (Akatsuki) going?"- Margaret Carter asked. She was physically present at the meeting but not allowed to leave Halo due to her pregnancy, just like Natalia.
"There was some opposition and a few incidents with the WSC (World Security Council), but after I kidnapped a few of their loved ones, all opposition ceased."- Spark—occupying Aragorn's android body—replied.
"You did what? While posing as Aragorn?"- Margaret asked. Sometimes, she wondered why her people had so many 'bad guy' tendencies.
"It's alright. The Master Chief said that if the WSC misbehaved, I could either kill them or kidnap their loved ones. Since killing would hinder the relief efforts, I went with kidnapping a few of their children and wives."
"And how are they not freaking out? They must be breathing down Fury's neck."- She said.
"I left them a link to a live feed of their loved ones, mostly spending time in an arcade. I also left a clear message outlining what's expected of them: full cooperation."- Spark added.
Spark did all of this while bodaciously wearing Aragorn's face.
"We're getting off track. We need to fix two major problems, which is why we're here."- Seraph brought the focus back, projecting a 3D representation of the planet.
"The planet's tilt and its magnetic field. These two will kill millions if left unchecked. Solar erosion is already ionizing the middle layers of the atmosphere, and the shifting climate zones will soon become permanent."
"We could gather a few of the maids, psionically synchronize them, and use Halo as an amplifier to telekinetically shift the planet's tilt."- Spark suggested.
"What's the downside?"- Steve Rogers asked. If Spark hadn't acted yet, there must be a reason.
"Using telekinesis like that is like grabbing the planet with a giant hand and tilting it. You can be careful, but it's bad for the surface and atmosphere."- Spark explained.
"The best bet is for Jean and me to do it—once she wakes up."- Seraph said.
"And the problem with that method?"- Margaret asked.
"I'm busy. Stopping my current efforts would result in the deaths of a few hundred thousand, maybe a million or two."- Seraph replied. She was helping Tony Stark and other newly emerged heroes while passively using her resonance to stabilize the atmosphere—an application of her Element-Vibranium body.
"The other option is sorcery, right?"- Bucky asked.
"Yes. But Yao and Agatha are unconscious, and Wanda is the most affected. Estimates put their recovery at three days minimum. Jean should be up sooner—she just needs a day of sleep. Father's clone helped mitigate the damage she sustained from fully channeling her Avatar powers."- Seraph explained.
"Run it by Fury. He should make the final decision."- Steve suggested.
"Alright, I will. What about the magnetic field?"- Seraph asked.
"... Can Magneto handle it?"- Spark inquired.
"Not alone—he's not that powerful."- Seraph replied, aware of Spark's assumption based on Magneto's multiversal counterparts.
'Does Polaris exist in this reality?'- Spark asked privately.
'No, last I checked she didn't.'- Seraph answered.
"What about having Anne Marie copy Magneto's powers, then one of the maids replenishes his energy? That would give us a Magneto and a half."- Bucky suggested.
"That could work. Which maid can replenish vitality?"- Seraph asked.
"Elyseas (Elven Maid)."- Spark answered for Bucky.
"I was thinking of having Selene transfer the energy, but if Elyseas knows how, that's better."- Bucky admitted.
"I rather not use my powers to absorb the life force of any of you, I don't want him to get mad at me."- Selene chimed in.
"Elyseas should do. She is in India... Is she doing damage control?"- Seraph asked Spark.
"She is rescuing some of the buried victims."- Spark said.
"Earthquakes?"- Margaret asked.
"Among other disasters, they also have very poor infrastructure."- Spark replied, using his common sense as the ruler for the quality of the infrastructure.
"Combine that with overpopulation, and you get one of the highest mortality rates, even compared to countries near the 'Eye of the Disaster'."- Seraph remarked.
"Can you have one of the girls assist me? I should take her place in the rescue efforts while she works on the magnetic disruption."- Steve suggested. While he didn't have psionic powers to locate the buried victims, he had experience in rescue efforts, so he just needed one of the girls to support him.
"I'll send Elara (Fae Wife). Her workload in Yemen is lightening up, and she doesn't like the way the men there are looking at her."- Bucky said with some displeasure.
He was not happy about what Elara told him. Even during a crisis, humans remain humans.
"I'll take care of her, Bucky. Don't worry."- Steve reassured him, understanding Bucky's concern.
Though, in reality, Bucky was more concerned about Yemen, not his wife's safety. He knew they couldn't touch a hair of her if she didn't allow it.
"How long until you're done, Seraph?"- Margaret asked.
"Four more days. After that, it'll shift from rescue to corpse retrieval."- Seraph estimated, knowing the survivors would die of dehydration if not found soon.
"Will Stark be able to keep assisting outside America?"- Margaret asked.
"I'll have to talk with him."- Seraph responded.
"Alright, keep us updated."- Margaret couldn't see the selfless character of Maria in her child before, so she was surprised when Tony Stark selflessly rushed to help.
"Spark, have the Inhumans contacted us?"- Bucky asked.
With the existence of the Halo, some of the previously hidden technological societies realized that they were most likely not very hidden. An example of this is Wakanda.
Although the Royal family of Wakanda had learned that Aragorn knew of them, now the council couldn't remain willfully ignorant about reality; they were not hidden.
Attilan, the city estate of the Inhumans, most have figured out by now that the reason the Moon was protected went beyond simply its role as Earth's satellite.
"No, not officially."- Spark replied.
"Officially?"- Bucky probed.
"There have been prods, but nothing formal."- Spark clarified.
"Now that we are on that topic. What's the world's reaction to the Halo?"- Margaret asked.
"Civilization is too busy falling apart to care."- Seraph answered by playing a few news networks, there were reports of tragedies, disasters, evacuation routes, and among these, riots. Humans were rioting, the general disposition was chaos. Even in the least affected zones.
The mood in the meeting went down. To them, who were doing their best to fix the situation and who worked for the dragon that gave up his life once more to protect the planet, it felt like a slap in the face to see humans rioting and making things worse just because.
"At least Wakanda had agreed to help, even if they want to do it under the cover of Daybreak."- Seraph said.
Spark was contacted by the Wakandan Royal family a few hours ago, and they had suggested helping by pretending to be part of Daybreak. Given that the technology used by the mutant retrieval organization was advanced enough to mask theirs, they thought about helping under their shadow.
"At least, there's that."- Steve added.
"There's a problem that I caused that might not be a problem but you should be aware of it."- Spark said. The rest in the room, but Seraph, waited anxiously to know what other mess they'd have to deal with.
"I dried the accounts of several crime lords the Master Chief had identified a few years ago. Mostly drug-related crime lords. As contradictory as it sounds, these crime lords were keeping afloat the economy of more than a few cities, in some cases estates or provinces. With me stealing this much from them, I've inadvertently condemned these economies."- Spark sounded as nonchalant as always.
"Why might this not be a problem?"- Margaret asked. She now, more than ever wondered why the good guys were such villains. She was all for stopping crime, but the way Spark and Aragorn acted was more in line with wanton chaos than justice.
"Because countries will fall and new ones will be born after this pseudo-apocalypse. There are already a few collapsed economies and the crisis isn't even over yet. A few countries here and there, one more or one less, won't amount to much, so no one but Fury will realize that Spark/Father destroyed the economies of these countries."- Seraph answered on Spark's behalf.
"You can be awfully cold sometimes."- Margaret commented.
"I can't change the past, only Father can. There's no point in denying what has happened or what will most likely happen. I think of myself as logical, though Spark is indeed rather cold, but that's Father's influence."- Seraph replied.
"The Master Chief's purpose is not to walk humanity by the hand. There are some aspects of humanity that he and I don't care if they cease to exist. We are not here to provide answers to the drug business problem, and even if we do, we would only do so if it's for the overall benefit of the planet (Gaea) not because Humanity is trying to kill itself faster. So if a few thousand/million people are indirectly affected by our actions we would not care."- Spark explained his and Aragorn's stance.
The partial collapse of the fossil fuels business is proof of this. Millions were negatively affected by the batteries and solar panels that Aragorn introduced to the market. Probably millions lost their jobs, but overall, for the planet (Gaea) it was better to lower carbon emissions.
"... At least the end will justify the means. It's how SHIELD operated and how it did under my lead for years."- Margaret told herself and the people present.
'Is she ignoring the fact that the end of SHIELD was Hydra, meaning that the end didn't justify the means?'- Spark asked his little sister.
'I believe that just like our maids, Peggy will begin to change after the more time she spends with us.'- Seraph understood that Margaret didn't want to confront that the actions of her allies brought doom to thousands and maybe millions.
'How interesting. I would expect such a black/white mindset from Steve Rogers, not her.'- Spark.
'Don't be harsh, she has her reasons.'- Seraph defended Margaret.
"Spark is there a way to lessen the consequence of your actions?"- Steve asked. He didn't want this to weigh on his pregnant wife's mind.
"I can make the crisis equally global. If everybody is having a hard time, no one is."- Spark provided a solution.
"I don't think that's the best solution."- Steve retorted.
"I think Spark is on to something."- Seraph spoke after a nanosecond of introspection.
"Seraph?"- Margaret asked. Bucky also paid attention.
"The way the economy is going, a global crisis is what's going to happen either way. We could guide the crisis so that it affects everybody the same, in doing so we would move money from the hands of those with more to the hands of those with little. It will still be awful and hard and many will suffer and possibly die, but we could make positive use of the chaos and economic depression."- Seraph.
"My sister is not wrong. Can you imagine what the fall of many countries will do to the stock market? What the damage left by this battle will imply in the exchange? Think about the famine that will happen due to the massive loss of crops because of the weather changes and excessive irradiation. Think about how the transportation network of pretty much everything on that side of the world collapsed effectively after the fight."- Spark displayed a few images to illustrate his point.
"The world is headed for a depression never seen before since the times of the bubonic plague. So it might be a good time to shift the depression so that it hits harder on those with more."- Spark caught on to what Seraph was suggesting.
"But having more is not illegal or a sin, why would we go out of our way to hit them specifically with this crisis?"- Steve asked.
"If having more and not doing something during a time of need is not a sin then why do you talk about the responsibility of those that have more 'power', Mr. Rogers? Money is a form of expendable power after all."- Spark asked.
"... You're manipulating my words."- Steve replied after thinking about Spark's statement for a second.
"We are going to help those in power help those in need, is that wrong?"- Seraph asked, tilting her head cutely.
"... Ugh!"- Steve complained.
"~Hehehehe!"- Bucky chuckled mockingly.
"How do you plan to do it?"- Margaret asked.
"Infrastructure and relief. Since the countries won't have money and the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank will be in a similar situation they won't be able to borrow money—not without compromising their future. So we will have to make those with more spend money on relief and rebuilding efforts."- Seraph said.
"I understand that, but how will you do that? It's not like you can force the countries to make a law forcing the rich to fund anything."- Margaret asked.
"Eh? That's obvious, we will just 'lawfully' transfer the money from their accounts. They can't complain—and they might—but how would that work? Would they try to recoup the money from the hands of the clearly in need? If they don't know who the culprit is who will they condemn? If they try to jack up the prices to regain their losses, who will have the money to buy from them when everybody is in the middle of a global crisis?"- Seraph excitedly replied.
"Since we will leave them with substantial resources how will they declare bankruptcy? If they have their money in the form of physical assets we will just pass those through molecularization and use their components in the rebuilding efforts. If they have their assets in the form of land, we'll just take it to build in it. Of course, the plan is not perfect, but between me and my sister we will be able to do it, even if they discover that something is illegal they won't be able to do anything, that's if they discover it at all."- Spark joined Seraph's cheerful mood.
"By the time they discover anything, it would be too late, they'll be as affected by the crisis as anybody. Oh, but don't worry! They won't die from this, we are not trying to put them on the streets, and just like Captain America said, it's the duty of those with power to help, noblesse oblige. We will be the force of good helping these powerful people help those in need."- Seraph smiled brightly, and Spark lit up to mimic Seraph's enthusiasm.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"- Bucky laughed seeing the faces of Peggy and Steve after they realized they made things worse.
Selene also found the entire situation funny. Here there were two AIs about to do what humanity feared AIs would do, but even so, their logic was not faulty.
"Is there a need for this?"- Margaret asked.
"Not really a need, because economic crises are part of the reality of the system humanity established, but if you want to save the most lives then yes. Deviating the crisis to hit more strongly those with more than those with less would alleviate some of the impact overall."- Spark stated.
"If it makes you feel better, we can target the funds they made while evading taxes, but eventually we would also have to target lawfully allowed funds."- Seraph added.
"I think their plan is not as bad as it sounds."- James supported the duo of AI cyberterrorists.
"I don't think my support matters much—especially not with my record—but I also believe the plan is good. With enough chaos, anything flies."- Selene Gallio added.
"Alright... Let's just all become criminals."- Margaret reluctantly agreed.
"Miss Carter, should I remind you that faking your death is a crime?"- Spark jabbed.
"Shut up, Spark."- She snarled.
Bucky's projection could be seen holding back his laugh.
"There's one more thing for which we currently have no solution."- Seraph said after stifling a peal of laughter.
"Is this about why the shield is still up?"- Selene Gallio asked, on her background the sky could be seen with a geometrical aurora boreallis.
This was not only at her location, the entire planet was still shielded by the buckyball shield. The combination of the shield and the disruption of the magnetic field created a worldwide spectacle of greenish skies with geometric auroras.
"Yes. The aftereffects of the cosmic manipulation from the Goblin Force have left the space outside unstable, filled with various forms of cosmic energy and radiation. If we lift the shield, almost 100% of the population will mutate—and I'm not just talking about X-Gene activation. I'm talking about uncontrolled cancerogenesis, not only in humans but in plants, animals, microorganisms, and larger life forms as well."- Seraph displayed two graphs, one showing the current cosmic energy readings and the other reflecting the energy that gave the Fantastic Four their powers.
"Some of the 'unnatural' subspecies of humans will be less affected."- Spark referred to the Inhumans and Mutants, among others.
"Is the shield running out of energy?"- Rogers asked.
"Not exactly, but even with me running the Infinity Stones through the Halo, it will stop bearing the load in about 26 weeks. The Halo was designed to run the energy from The Orb, not the Infinity Stones. The young master was planning to update the circuitry and materials next year."- Spark explained.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
It sounded pretty much like a sentencing date, so no one could speak without processing the information.
"What options do we have?"- James asked.
"It won't affect the Halo, so there's that at least."- Seraph said.
"But the Halo was not made to serve as an Ark for humanity, so we can't evacuate them up here."- Spark added.
"Not that Father would like that. The possible options we have are as follows:
1- We force or manipulate humanity into worshipping Goddess Gaea, then using the faith energy collected from them Gaea will bless the life on the surface to endure the irradiation.
2- We make underground shelters and wait until Father's return so that he can solve the cosmic energy problem.
3- Empowering Master (Yao) or Agatha—Selene is an option as well—with the space stone we shift the entire planet to the mirror dimension and wait for Father's return.
4- Empowering Master (Yao) or Agatha—Selene is an option as well—with the space stone we move the planet to another star system and wait for Father's return.
5- Spark will viralize a gene enhancer and stabilizer through the atmosphere to set and secure the genetic sequence of all life on Earth, this would deny any possible mutation for life on Earth for the next 470 years, so it's not recommended because it would stunt the growth of Life.
6- We freeze time in this star system with the time stone and wait for Father's return.
7- We isolate the planet's space using the space stone.
These are the main solutions I offer."- Seraph.
"Each of these 'solutions' carries a set of consequences of their own. If we move the planet to any dimension or location outside of its established universal coordinates, it will shut down the dimensional shield that the Sanctums have up protecting this planet, which would imply an influx of extradimensional incursions. Mostly of the demonic kind"- Spark.
"I don't want to deal with any more demons, please spare us the horror. We are dealing with the aftermath of their latest 'prank' and I feel like I will lose the hair of my tail any moment now."- Bucky snapped!
"If we freeze time only on this star system, it will rebound after we unfreeze it, and according to what we understand Father wouldn't be able to stop it. The rebound could imply the time displacement of foreigners to the present. Not limited only to 'people', we could displace the aftershocks of Father's fight an suddenly have a repeat of the Global Storm, or worse."- Seraph.
"Let's not!"- Steve and Margaret quipped at the same time.
"Options 1 and 2 are the safest but they carry problems within Humanity's structure—not that there's much left of it after the last cataclysm."- Spark.
"I support option 1, number two would waste time and resources."- Selene added.
"The last option would entail having a rotation of maid girls using the space stone one every half an hour—the estimated maximum time each can hold the stone—but this would leave us extremely short-handed due to exhaustion after using the stones that they will suffer. My recommendation is option 1, even if Humanity would never be the same."- Seraph concluded and agreed with Selene.
"I recommend option 7 because that one messes with less of the Young Master's plans, but I should recommend that we set up a system to allow us to keep our hold on Humanity while we are short-handed."- Spark finished his declaration.
The rest of the members in the meeting felt like something gave up in their hearts and minds.
________________
North America, United States of America.
Former Salt Lake City, Utah.
*Bleergh!*- A red and gold armor kneels in four puking its guts out.
Next to him, the corpses of two unidentifiable children can be seen sprawled on the floor of the remains of an apartment complex. The bigger body appeared to be on top of the smaller one as if shielding it, yet both were speared through by a fallen I-Beam.
The smell was retch-inducing, the flies and maggots had taken the bodies like an all-you-can-eat gourmet buffet. Most of the nutritious innards were almost eaten fully.
This was not Tony Stark's first encounter with something like this, but the stress was getting to him.
It had been almost a week since the induced eruption of the supercaldera and he had been working nearly 20 hours a day in rescue efforts.
"Come on, Kid. You've been through this, tag the bodies, and let's move on."- Logan offered him a bottle of water.
"Thanks, Old Man."- Tony Stark took a swing of the bottle.
"... This is Vodka."- He returned the bottle.
"Just don't tell the girl and no one will know."- Logan gave him a gruff smirk.
"You're no good for my alcoholism. Dick move!"- Stark complained.
"Are you gonna go cry to your nanny, bub?"- Logan asked and took a swing of his 'water'.
"I don't have to, she is listening to this."- Stark returned a mocking smile while pointing at the P-Link hanging from his neck.
"... Shit."- Logan cursed.
"Shit indeed!"- Seraph yelled from behind him after teleporting.
"... I'm sorry?"- Logan stepped back, the hair rising on his back and arms signaling danger.
"Sorry isn't going to cut it. Do you know how much effort I put into getting him out of the vice? Only for you to come and do this?"- Seraph glared at the shrinking Logan.
"Yeah, you tell him!"- Stark stood behind Seraph like an instigator kid behind his mother.
"And you, Tony? Don't you think I don't know you would have noticed the smell before taking a sip!"- Seraph gave him a side-eye glare.
"Hey, don't implicate me like that, it's all his fault, I was in distress, distress!"- Stark waved his armored hands in the air in denial of his involvement.
"Right, as if you couldn't have spat the liquid out."- Logan.
There was some lightning cracking between Seraph's tufts of hair and fingers.
"... Okay, I'm going back to work, we are too busy for this. Old Man! You find other corpses, we need to find any identifiable bodies in this block and be done with this!"- Tony said in a hurry to Logan.
Logan didn't object and nodded as if he were too busy, knowing better than to step on the tail of the blue monster.
By the end of the day, Tony Stark and his bodyguards-turned-rescue helpers sat around a bonfire, cooking soup. The armor stood behind the group, unmanned, while they all stared at the bubbling liquid, as if lost in thought.
Around them, even if it was night, there was a flurry of activity. Emergency vehicles went in and out of the evacuation center, and food distribution was taking place. The military was taking care of the security management and transportation.
Seraph, as someone able to heal and cure was in the medical provisional center helping surgeons and doctors by providing services they didn't have access to at the moment. Her duties went from assisted respiration, blood control, anesthesia, radiological exams, and many other necessities that doctors required to perform their tasks.
Given the metamorphic capabilities of her body and the abundant knowledge she had of medicine and medical devices, Seraph could give much-needed assistance.
The United States was not doing as badly as the Afro-Eurasian landmass, so there were still hospitals working in the other unaffected states. This meant that Seraph's services were only for stabilization and the emergency treatment of those who couldn't wait to be moved.
She is of course a 'legally' registered doctor in the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), and other pertinent organizations... as of last week.
"You think the Rambos are going to give Seraph a hard time again?"- Scott Summers asked.
"There was no one high enough in the command chain before, but with Ross here... he might try something."- Stark said.
"Is he part of you know what?"- Kurt Wagner asked, he was not part of the usual escort of Stark but he had been helping his team since three days ago.
"Unknowingly, he has some dealing with them but he isn't part of them, he is too much a nationalist for that."- Stark replied.
"Only misery awaits him if he tries anything on Blue."- Logan added.
"Yeah, but I don't think it will be good for our image if she goes berserker."- Seraph has been posing as the mutant daughter of Aragorn Abner and an undisclosed woman. The lack of an apparent age difference made more than a few doubt that statement but she said she was involved in a time-displacement accident and that was enough for most to swallow the news.
So Scott's concerns were about how—like her father—Seraph tended to overreact, and he was afraid she might go extreme and mar the image they had been building the past week. Scott was a sensible person now, he gained common sense after Jean Grey fixed him.
"I don't think it matters, we will be out of the States for a few months after tomorrow, they would have as much power as they do here over her. None."- Logan added.
They were done saving anyone who could be realistically saved, and for the past two days, they've been helping find bodies for the families of survivors. But that ended today, they would move to the surroundings of the Mediterranean Sea. After it overflooded and sunk most of the cities around it help was desperately in need.
"Tell that to those guys."-Scott pointed with his head at the marching squad moving to surround the tent where Seraph was.
"*Sigh*."- This was the shared sentiment in the group.
Before they knew it another squad was surrounding them, as if expecting them to resist. But the hungry group just ignored them and were simply waiting for the soup to be done.
With Aragorn currently absent, Seraph was the strongest being on the planet, why would they try to make things worse and offer assistance?
Anxiety was creeping at the soldiers, at seeing the nonchalance of the possible hostiles.
"I think it's ready."- A white-haired blue-skinned woman with red eyes said.
Her simple phrase made the soldiers jump a little.
"~Heh."- Logan mocked them.
"You heard the only one of us who can cook, let's dig in."- Logan said, after his attempt to rally them fell flat.
"Vanessa, darling, I thank the gods for you."- Stark said. The best he could cook was Arc reactors, Scott was a master at microwaving, Kurt was a pro at express delivery, and Logan a master of beer cooking—not the type of cooking that involved beer but the type that involved opening a can of beer and nothing else.
"It's my first time making venison soup, so don't be critics."- It was the game that Logan had hunted because they didn't want to waste rations from the survivors.
On the first days, they dinned like kings and queens, but all the stress and physical exertion made them eat more than expected and since they were too busy to coordinate anything, Logan simply ran into a forest and then returned dragging a deer.
"Your humble bragging is as lovely as always."- Stark slurped the soup as if it were water from the holy grail.
"Thanks, Ms. Carlysle."- Kurt said, accepting his bowl.
"Don't mention it, kiddo."- She sneaked a bigger piece of meat since he was a respectful kid in her eyes.
They kept at their dinner until Logan perked up and looked in the direction of Seraph's tent.
"You guys should go to your boss, he angered Blue and that's never a good idea."- Logan muttered between bites at the Soldiers surrounding them.
But those were not the soldiers' orders, so they didn't move. If anything, a few of them thought that the muties were going to start showing their true colors so they were distracting them.
"You guys should really check on Ross. I'm an arms dealer—ex-arms dealer—so as ex-business partners, please listen to me."- Stark tried his approach.
But there was no movement from the soldiers.
Inside the tent, things were not as relaxed as outside.
Seraph sat behind a desk, surrounded by floating papers and several holo screens displaying processes and coordinating personnel across the globe.
Cables extended from her back, each sharing the same blue, circuitry-like appearance as her skin. These cables weren't plugged into anything; instead, they ended in various medical devices formed from her mass. One cable end was shaped into a multi-function scanning machine, another into a tool for assisting in microsurgery—each modeled from the Grand Repository of Knowledge.
On the other side of the desk stood General Ross, he was sided by armed personnel.
Seraph was not in a private tent, but one used by the medical department, so several first responders and medical personnel were witnessing the 'show'.
"Seraph Abner, your coordination is demanded and greatly appreciated. The military base 87 clicks from here was also hit by the wave of the disaster, I have several good men in need of your services."- Ross said for the second time in a demanding tone.
"Bring them here in one of your fancy choppers. This is the health center assigned to this area of the affected region."- Seraph said without removing her sight from the paperwork.
"And I told—"
"Dr. Spencer! The results of the chest X-ray are here, it's probably an Aortic Injury, but if the patient has the time you might want to do a CT scan."- Seraph spoke out loud and a hurried nurse came fast-walking to the desk.
"I'm here for Dr. Spencer's."- She grabbed the results of the radiographic imagery and fast-walked in another direction.
"Girl! This is a military order!"- Ross shouted after losing his patience.
"And I'm not a citizen of this country... Also as of right now, I enjoy diplomatic immunity."- Seraph opened a portal, and paper with several seals and signatures flew out of it.
Seraph made the official paper float to Ross' face.
"What?!"- He exclaimed.
Still standing in the same spot he pulled up a cell phone and made a call, the changes on his face were enough to understand that he was not having a good day.
"So SHIELD is backing you up."- Ross said in an eerie tone.
"And Father, and Goddess Gaea, and Re-Nazca, and now President Clinton. So, I'm not moving from here and visiting your black site of a base to help some possibly imaginary soldiers when you can bring the said imaginary soldiers here. Don't annoy me or I'll tell Father!"- Seraph glared with a victorious grin.
Ross felt like the disrespect was enough.
"All of these victims who are comfortably flying to their respective hospitals and medical centers... I could ground these birds, my birds! And by the time an order came from higher up the chain of command it would be too late, are you really going to continue with your stubbornness and carry the blood of these survivors in your hands? All you need to do is follow us to my base for a quick help, that's all!"- He shouted while fuming, his statement made more than a few emergency medical responders pause and glare at him.
Seraph closed her eyes for a second and all of the screens stopped running, papers were left hovering statically around her.
Ross and several others thought that his threat had worked. Some of the medical staff were worriedly wondering about how they were going to do without her help.
"... Thaddeus Ross. Your Daughter, Elizabeth Ross... this is her, right?"- Seraph made a portal window at a distance of a woman at Culver University.
The woman was in a large room watching TV with other scientists. They were all seeing with rapt attention the news about the multiple disasters happening around the world, about the multiple organizations that surfaced to help during these times of need, like Daybreak, they were talking about an interview with one of its leaders, Magneto.
There were also reports about the help provided by the witches and maids serving Lord Alduin, who has been absent since the fight with the calamity they named 'The Shadow'—in honor of the shadow sword still holding above the planet.
Seraph pointed with her index finger and her hand shifted into a revolver.
"What do you think you're doing?!!!"- He shouted and his men aimed at her, he also pulled his sidearm and pointed it at her.
"What do YOU think you're doing? I have diplomatic immunity, are you trying to start an international conflict during these trying times? Do you understand the meaning of FULL-INMUNITY? Do you know of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961)? I can shoot that woman right now and there's nothing you can do about it! What will you do with those firearms of yours? Haven't you seen any data about how bullet-proof I am? Come on General! You're not supposed to be this stupid."- Seraph spoke all of this in a breath and didn't let Ross interject, she also did so while having a jeering smile on her face.
Ross' face gained a red tone of rage, his eyes went bloodshot and he glared with murderous intention at Seraph.
It was comic enough that Seraph wondered if her readings were wrong and maybe Ross was about to turn into Red Hulk out of pure sheer rage without a drop of Gamma in his blood.
On the other side of the portal, the scientists and students were none the wiser about what was going on, Seraph was cloaking the portal.
"I think we should all calm down. Princess, can you not aim at the nice lady?"- Stark said as he walked slowly from the entrance of the tent.
Behind him was a soldier following him.
"Stark."- Ross said in acknowledgment.
"You as well, Ross. Have you seen what her father can do and does to whoever aims their guns at him?... Well, picture the same happening to you on your boys here. The blue cute one over there is on the same level of power as her father and Jean Grey, do you really want to make an enemy of two Omega-level mutants?... Without mentioning their followers."- Stark placed a hand on his right shoulder, indicating at him to lower his gun and order his men to stand down.
Ross was between following logic or his heart... It should be said that his heart was very patriotic, so whether his heart was thinking about his daughter or his country it was not clear.
Seeing the struggle in Ross's eyes, Stark tapped on his P-Link and showed a projection of a maid with butterfly wings, waving her hands like a symphony conductor, following each of her fluid movements several streams of water flowed upward from a flooded city, and froze around the city in makeshift walls.
"How much do you think she can lift?"- Stark joked about the weight of the water Elara was moving.
Hearing Stark's relaxed tone of voice while joking during the tense situation, he took it as mocking.
"Stark, are you a traitor to the country that feeds you and fed your family?"- Ross asked, his hands holding his sidearm shook in fury.
"You're impossible. Go ahead, get your daughter and your men killed. I never liked you anyway, I was just trying to prevent the demise of such a genetic marvel."- Stark leered at Elizabeth Ross.
"Princess can you zoom in?"- Elizabeth Ross was bent over a table with her head on her hands and her elbows supporting her weight while watching the news. The position itself was not exactly lewd, but Stark was making it so with his comments.
"Stark!"- Ross snarled.
"What? I'm talking from a scientific point of view."- Stark didn't even flinch at Ross rage-filled yell.
"This female human specimen has what has been identified as perfect child-bearing hips. The combination with the famously sought-after 'thighs to die for' places her at the top of a very professional list of pinnacle specimens that I have."- Stark spoke with a voice as if he was doing a professional report.
"That's all I'm saying!"- Stark took his smartphone out and shamelessly started to take pictures... with flash.
"What do you think you're doing?!"- Ross was about half a mind from aiming at Stark, but he knew he shouldn't, Stark was not like Seraph, Stark was still protected by the USA even after he stopped his weapons manufacturing business, and to Ross, USA was all that mattered.
What about Seraph's immunity? Ross didn't care, the same immunity proved she was not a citizen of his country.
"I'm documenting, it's what we scientists must do when we encounter these pinnacle specimens. It's the rules, and I don't make the rules, I just play the game."- Stark decided to stand behind Seraph just in case he took it too far and Ross loses his shit.
But the tense exchange came to an end before that.
"I stalled long enough, the rest is up to you."- Stark said before walking away as if all that happened before was a joke.
"General, did you lose the few screws left in your head? Put the goddamn weapon down if you don't want me to put you down for the good of the country!"- Fury said as he walked into the tent followed by a squad of SHIELD and Hydra members—which were the same thing.
Weapons hot and ready. All aiming at the soldiers and Ross.
"Fury! You as wel—"
"Shut up! This is a direct order, from President Clinton, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, as is outlined in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. Ross put the weapons DOWN!"- Fury waved at his face a document backing his words. He punctuated each of his words with a violent tap of his walking cane.
Fury was in a meeting with the POTUS when Stark contacted him and explained what he was seeing from the surveillance he left in Seraph's tent. He had to portal all the way here after rushing President Clinton to grant diplomatic immunity to Seraph and create the official document with the order.
With all of the help those related to Aragorn were providing the world... If Aragorn said that they would stop helping because of issues with the USA, the rest of the world would turn on them. To avoid such a dispairing future, Fury and President Clinton came up with this solution, and Ross will probably get a slap on his hands for his heavy-handedness.
"This..."- Ross reluctantly lowered his weapon and his soldiers followed.
"Seraph, please close the portal."- Fury said almost imploringly.
"*Hmph!* Only because you said so, Uncle Fury."- Seraph closed the portal and her hand morphed back to its digited original shape and then she proceeded to ignore Ross again and continue with her work.
After that, from a distance, Fury could be seen waving his hands in the air at Ross, some say that he was explaining common sense about how you're not supposed to poke the bull by the balls.
___________________________________________
Undisclosed Location, Undisclosed Time.
"This was a tragedy for our plans."
Multiple screens show the affected bases of their organization in the Afro-Eurasian landmass.
'Not necessarily.'
-Explain.-
'Chaos is a ladder, we all know that. Tragedy, despair, pain, and hopelessness are some of the best fertilizers for loyalty, devotion, and blind faith.'
This was how they did things. They took advantage of the lowest moments of someone, lured them, and then entrapped them with some brainwashing.
And if the person was not at a low point then they made it so before extending a helping hand. This is what they did, this is who they were, this was Hydra.
"With the upcoming crisis, I don't think we will have the resources to foster a new generation to our numbers."
'When has an economic crisis ever concerned us?'
They were the cause of many economic crises. They took advantage of the ones they didn't cause. Why would this one be different?
-Since Aragorn stole billions from us. More than a quarter of those 'kingpins' he boasted to Fury about were ours. I don't want to imagine what he'll do during the upcoming crisis.-
[Our sister is right. Aragorn has always been a major problem in our calculations and machinations. With the addition of Seraph Abner, we will face even bigger problems.]- A video played of Seraph with multiple screens flashing multiple tasks at the same time.
The curious thing was that the video appeared to have been recorded in the first-person point of view.
"I hate technopaths."
-And it appears technopathy is just the tip of the iceberg. She stopped the eruption and helped protect the planet with Jean Grey from the cosmic event.-
'From where does this monster keep pulling out more of his kin?! Omega levels were supposed to be rare!'
[...]
"..."
-...-
'...'
[*Sigh* If there's anything to celebrate, it would be the disappearance of the dragon.]
"... There's also the appearance of a second tree, over at Point Nemo."
'But with how everything is falling apart we can't grab claim it.'
"I say we do. Let's seize it, we will be met with less opposition now that the world is focused on stopping this apocalypse."
'Don't be shortsighted, even for us it would be impossible to maintain the hold over it from the other nations once they realize we took it while no one was looking, and we don't know how Aragorn will react. The last thing we need is Aragorn, his girlfriend, and his daughter on our business.'
"Why don't we control the other nations and make a 'Coalition' to secure the tree? If it's a lawful appropriation Aragorn won't move."
'We don't control public opinion, imagine if Aragorn comes out and says that he is pulling back his support because this 'Coalition' is taking his stuff while he is busy fixing the world.'
"What even is his stance on the second tree? Did you get something from Fury?"
[Fury said that Aragorn mentioned that they could talk about it later because he was too busy at the moment.]
-That doesn't sound like him, does it?-
"You're right, he parades around like a peacock over what he claims as his territory."
[... Maybe he is not claiming the second tree.]
-Why do you say so?-
[Maybe he doesn't know what happened to the dragon. He is planet-locked by the shield like the rest of us, so maybe he believes that if the world attacked Re-Nazca while the dragon is away, it would be nuked and lost, all except for the radiation-eating tree.]
-Are you implying that he is leaving the second tree up for grabs to alleviate the pressure on him while the dragon is missing?-
[That's what I think, but we would fall back to a problem we've been having since the emergence of the goddess.]
"Right... We don't have a way of assessing her power level. We still don't know how much of a threat she is."
[With Aragorn and the dragon shielding her from the public eye, it's impossible to assess her.]
-Now that Aragorn has secured her in the ringworld, it's even more impossible. On that note, what has fury unearthed about that abomination?-
[I ordered Fury to question him, of course, the monster knew the order came from me, so he said that it's obvious for a psychokinetic of his level to have a space station, he said that if Magneto could have his own, why not him?]
-He had the gall to call that a space station?-
'Magneto's space station is to the ringworld as a Tuggy Sandbox is to my yacht!'
[It was a battle and a half, but he submitted a report about how he built it. I don't know what to make of it. He wrote that he dragged a part of the atmosphere with him and went mining to the asteroid belt, at least I can believe that part, Reed Richards is not that far from accomplishing that. But then he said that while at it he was sucked by a wormhole and ended in a planet named Sakaar. From there, it is all as believable as you might imagine.]
[The world was the end destination of space trash, it was a paradise for a backwater civilization like ours, he collected and studied alien tech. Seraph Abner went to look for him, she was sucked by the same wormhole and arrived a few years before him. They eventually met in the arena where the overlord of the planet had death matches for fun. The combination of his superior intellect and his daughter's cuteness allowed them to escape... his words, not mine.]
-He is taking you for a fool!-
'It's obvious he invented the entire thing.'
"Fury accepted such a report?"
[That's part of the problem... As you know, Fury has friendly ties with a faction of the Skrulls, the ones under Talos, they confirmed that Sakaar indeed exists, and it's known as a trash world, the thing is that most recounts about it are from half-crazy people who exited wormholes.]
-So there's no definite proof... which means that Aragorn at least knows of this and that this world functions as the perfect alibi. So we can confirm that he has a form of contact with an alien species, or more. This monster is more problematic the longer he lives.-
[It's not like we haven't tried to get rid of him... look how much good that did us. My daughter was held hostage for over a month because we tried to capture some Daybreak VTOLs.]
"Is there another way to deal with him other than having the Tesseract going ballistic on him and possibly the rest of the planet?"
[...]
-...-
"..."
'I might have found something.'
[Do tell.]
"Let's hear it, It can't be worse than what we currently have, which is zilch!"
-Go ahead.-
'Back then, during the times of WWII, our leader was looking for that 'something else' that would allow our glorious Hydra to stand above the rest. As you all know, in his search he found the Tesseract. But that's not the only thing he found, he found that the Asgardians existed, or at least a race of divine beings named as such.'
'With the existence of mutants, the dragon, the goddess, the magical servants of the dragon, the Tesseract, the tree, The Shadow, the records of our leader's findings, and everything else, I started to think that Hydra might need to start another branch dedicated to the study of myths and the search for the supernatural.'
'I couldn't find much, initially, but eventually, I found a group of sorcerers that oppose the group that mended the space wound left behind during the Green Door Event. This was sent to most of you during the report at the beginning of the year.'
[We've read it.]
'As we discussed, I had my people join this group and bring 'Sorcery' to Hydra. That has been a slow process but we will get there. Recently, not one month ago, one of my people who showed promise among the group, was granted access to their historical library.'
'If Gaea is the same elder goddess as the one spoken in the records, then we are talking about someone who can boss Aragorn around, someone at least on the same level as the dragon.'
[Fuck!]
-Scheiße!-
"That can't be all! Did you find something else?"
'No, not about her, she is too old even for the sorcerers, but before I lost hope, we made a breakthrough on Project Boundary Breach using some of the knowledge my people brought from the sorcerers. Our attempt at replicating the Tesseract, using extra-dimensional energy extracted from a rift and then held in a matrix, finally made a breakthrough. It shouldn't be long before we have our own Tesseract, our own... Cosmic Cube!'
'-["Hail Hydra!"]-'
____________________________________________
Venice, Italy.
The water, once reflecting a vibrant blue, now resembled poorly mixed hot cocoa. Trees, debris, boats, half-submerged vehicles of all kinds, clothing, corpses, ice, and occasionally the top of a building floated just above the murky surface.
The city, renowned for its ambiance, history, and reputation as The Most Likely To Be Flooded, was one of the first on the European continent to sink. Excessive rainfall combined with massive temperature fluctuations had turned the once iconic city into a lake of trash and ice.
"This is not how I picture our first visit to Venice."
"It isn't, my fox."
Yelena floated next to the flaming Johnny Storm.
"What are we supposed to do here, Lena? There's not much saving to do at this point, who could swim and was lucky enough to find something floating got away, everyone else is... well, you know."- Johnny felt he didn't need to finish his statement, on account of the various corpses serving as food for the seagulls that survived.
"We have to push the water back and try to elevate the city."- Yelena had a semitransparent hologram in front of her overlapping with the landscape.
The hologram showed her the best places to start.
"Not to be a downer, but I don't think I can do much to help you, Lena."
"It's alright, you're here for moral support and because I won't be seeing you for possibly a long time, so I wanted to spend something together."
"I can be the most supportive moral for you, my fox goddess, but what's this about not almost dying to sex for a long time?"
"~Heh, do you think I'm gonna let you slack while I'm gone? I already gave your sister the exercise routine you'll have to follow while I'm gone. When I return I expect you to outlast me at least once!"
"... There's dreaming, there's fantasy, and then there's me outlasting you!"
"Hey, my Hotbod, don't sell yourself short. You've made great improvements, your training has bore fruit, and I have been able to give you my 80%! If you think about how a human has been able to make me go at about 80%, you realize that you're probably the reincarnation of a deity of sex."
"As much as that feeds my overinflated ego, the MVP is this girl inhabiting my soul. Otherwise instead of Human Torch I would be called Hipless Human."
"Mhmm, I'm thankful to her. At the same time, I feel ashamed of subjecting the equivalent of a baby to our disrespectful and sinful sex."
"... I ain't stopping."- Johnny shook his head in denial, his arms crossed over his chest in an 'X', his flame mimicked him and made several smaller exes float around him.
"... I ain't allowing you to stop, but I'm just saying."- Yelena made exes of ice float around her and her tails crossed in X as well.
They looked at each other and laughed. They both knew they were some horny deviants, but neither cared that much. Johnny was always a shameless human, and Yelena cared so little about anything anyone but her family thought. And her family didn't mind.
"Hey, Lena, so I get that we are supposed to 'unflood' Venice, but how are we supposed to do that when this whole region is below the new sea level?"
"Like I said, we elevate the city. We are making an island."
"... Right... How?"- Johnny expressed his confusion.
"My specialty is ice—thermodynamic control with emphasis on entropy removal, to be more accurate—but that doesn't mean I can't do other sorcery. In this case, we will inscribe a city-wide magic circle, and then the land will rise like a column. That's one way of making an island."- Yelena showed Johnny the hologram Spark gave her.
"I see, that mea—Wait! Here it says that I will be your backup battery, what's that about?"
"It's not my affinity and I'm using my reserves because the shield is blocking most forms of supernatural energy from flowing—dimensional energy, universal energy, divinity contracts, and more—but you and your girl are a well of energy, in case I run dry you'll help me."
"HUHUHUHU!"- Johnny laughed like a haughty young lady.
"Look who's running dry now! How the turns have tabled!"
"Idiot. I will suck you dry tonight if you keep this up."
"The joke's on you. I'm keeping this up!"
While the two sexual deviants joked and flirted, they moved to elevate the city.
Yelena first raised a circular wall of ice surrounding the city. Then she used her telekinesis for the herculean task of draining the city. Johnny—true to his supportive role—would goofily act like a cheerleader and support Yelena while doing acrobatics in the air with the assistance of his living flame.
After a few hours, they landed, and using Yelena's blood while following the instructions of Spark, they marked the city with a magic circle.
Johnny was worried about the gallons upon gallons of blood his fox was leaking, but he knew better.
"Just grab my tails, I will siphon from your energy if I find myself lacking."'- Yelena instructed him.
Not missing the chance, Johnny glomped the whole fluff in a hug. Yelena rolled her eyes at the opportunistic man and got a bit wet after thinking about the occasions in which he had grabbed her tails before, this was probably the only PG-13 occasion.
The circle painted in blood lit up, and there was no shaking, nor rumbling, at some point Johnny thought that the circle failed but then he felt Yelena absorb some of his energy. He didn't have a way of measuring how much, but he could estimate about two-thirds of his full capacity.
The circle finally died down and disappeared. Yelena fell backward, Johnny followed, and her tails moved to soften the blow and with an almost comical 'Poof' they fell in a cushion of fluff.
"I'm guessing it succeded, right?"- Johnny asked as he hugged Yelena into a straddling position above him, her tails between his legs and sides to work as the bed of fluff.
"Yeah, the ice walls were too tall so you didn't see it as we were ascending."- Yelena waved her hand and the walls broke away as if they were made of dust. The light caught the snow as it soared with the winds while looking as magical as its nature.
With the walls falling apart, they made way for the view. The sea could be seen now at the same level as the canals and ports of the city.
"Won't it be a problem when the water recedes?"- He asked.
"That's not happening, at least not in thousands of years. This place not only sank because of the weather. In one of the hits, Aragorn almost fully softened the blow, but he couldn't dissipate enough force of it."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that this part of the continent sank, not solely because the water level rose, but because the ground level sank."
"... Shyet!"- Johnny exclaimed.
"Classy."- Yelena jokingly reproached.
*Ding*- Her P-Link rang.
"Yelena, I apologize for the interruption. The team of Flora Colossus is arriving to deliver the WL-Tomato strain seedlings."- Spark said from her P-Link.
"Hey, Spark. I don't think this fox is moving anywhere."- Johny spoke up.
"It's alright, I'm not moving but you are."- Yelena said to Johnny.
"Sure, what can I help with?"
"Remember the canals I told you about?"
"Yeah, I marked them on my map."- Johnny tapped on his P-Link and showed a city of the now-raised Venice with several canals selected.
"There will be some tree aliens teleporting soon. Guide them to these canals. They know what to do after that, they might ask you to heat the water a little after my ice cooled it."- Yelena trusted the translating capabilities built on Johnny's P-Link so that he could understand the three-worded language of the Flora Colossus.
"What's this about?"
"Mr. Storm, it's part of the deal Aragorn made with the Italian government. The Flora Colossus will plant a hybrid of Water Lilly and Tomato blessed by Goddess Gaea. It should help them in the upcoming famine."- Saprk answered from Johnny's P-Link.
"How does that even work?"
"Genetical splicing and rearrangement combined with asexual cloning and reproduction of samples under high concentration of divinity. The tomatoes will grow under the water level, when ripe they'll float between the leaves."
"At first sight, it looks like a normal Water Lily."- Yelena commented about the hologram Spark was showing Johnny Storm.
"This is some crazy scientist shit done right! Maybe the famine won't be as bad as Reed projected for the next quarter."- Johnny said.
A few months after the disaster, some populations in certain religious states that didn't accept the helping hand 'tainted' by the 'false' goddess were starting to be engulfed by mass starvation.
Reed had projected that more than a third of the population of Africa alone would be lost, and based on the way that projections were moving it appeared to be true.
Daybreak, the mutant organization that began to change the public perception of mutants, along with the servants of Lord Alduin—who is still absent—Re-Nazca, Star Industries, and several of the companies under Aragorn Abner have been working hard toward keeping the world from falling apart.
Re-Nazca, which initially counted with only two species of supercrops, started to heavily invest in hybrids, supercrops, enhanced soils, and divinely blessed fertilizers to help fight the worldwide famine.
Star Industries along with N-Tek spearheaded the massive distribution of smartphones to help people gain access to information faster. Info which was desperately needed after the world climate settled for a frenzied mess.
The weather became crazy in consequence, and it became normal to have sudden electric storms accompanied by hail and/or snow. Sudden drops or highs in temperature, hurricanes, monsoons, typhoons, cyclones, swells, storm surges, tornados, and many more examples of extreme weather became the norm. Which is why a means of quick access to news was needed.
During the first months, it was really hard because the planetary magnetic field was damaged. Countless satellites were lost, technology centers dependent on the magnetic field became obsolete at best, long-distance communications became almost impossible, navigation went a century backward, all flights were grounded for months, and overall any semblance of modernity seemed to have been lost.
During these trying times, the leader of Daybreak, formerly known as a terrorist, created a miracle.
Magneto, escorted by Aragorn Abner, went to the Magnetic North Pole, Rogue, escorted by Jean Grey, went to the Magnetic South Pole, and between these two they fixed and restored the planetary magnetic field. The miracle was caught on camera and—with the help of the Sat-Net Aragorn made public he created—was spread through the world to bring hope to humanity during the darkest time of modern history.
Lots of questions would have been made about why Aragorn created such a Sat-Net, but humanity was still falling apart, if anything it was doing worse now.
At least, during the fight of The Shadow against Alduin, Aragorn, Jean, Ororo, and Seraph were there to buffer the blows. But now people were dying of something else. While millions still died, as the months passed, the number of victims of the famine and the weather—among other aftershocks of the fight—kept escalating, until by the mark of the third month both numbers were equal.
Not everyone was cooperating, though.
Seeing so many mutants helping selflessly made certain individuals spin a tale about how The Shadow was one of their kin and they were helping because it was their responsibility. This didn't gain much momentum because Spark and Seraph controlled the media through the Skynet—needless to say, these certain individuals started to disappear if they were part of certain affiliations.
But in the same manner, as these exceptions were being uncooperative due to X-Gene found in the helpers, certain countries didn't accept the help of the pagan goddess and their zealots, these countries that operated like theocracies demanded the cessation of resources marred by the fake goddess.
Aragorn attended a press conference in which he addressed these concerns and many others with an 'Okay', since most of the girls were almost as laden in Gaea's divinity as Aragorn was, he removed them from these theocracies. Since he was a fervent believer in Goddess Gaea and prayed daily to bless the products affiliated with him and his companies, he stopped sending help altogether.
Since his girls were providing security—among a vast array of services—in the reconstruction efforts, their removal meant that other companies would no longer brave to these parts of the world. In the end, these countries were left with the help they could get from their allies and whatever they could do for themselves.
And this is how a number of countries became no man's land. People starved, people rioted, people rebelled, people prayed, people killed, people died, jurisprudence was the first to go, governments followed, and lastly, people stopped being people and only the animals were left, the true face of a starving, dying, despaired, and hopeless human.
"Mr. Abner, about the situation Middle East situation..."- Mr. Shadow #1—also known as Alexander Pierce—said with a tone of voice that indicated reluctance.
"What, Pierce?"- Aragorn (Spark) asked in a way that conveyed all of his willingness to hear him out.
"The situation has escalated to the point that the surrounding countries are having a hard time keeping them at bay. Resources are not lasting for those that were accepting immigrants, and no form of governance can be found in these places, it's gotten to the point that we can't even know what's going on inside the territories that fell because no form of organized macro-civilization is left."
"Get to the point, Pierce."- Aragorn was listening to nothing new.
"Keep it civilized, Abner."- Fury said to calm Aragorn down.
"*Sigh* In recent discussions among the WSC, it has been agreed that resources from the fallen territories should be allocated to areas with a genuine possibility of recovery. The focus will primarily be on the countries that are benefiting from both your assistance and ours in the rebuilding efforts. These resources may include, but are not limited to, personnel, vehicles, ores, construction materials, processed metals, water, soil, and land."
"Why don't you just say that you want to rip the fallen counties apart and distribute what could be saved and is useful among the pockets of your friends?"- Aragorn asked.
"Abner! Are you not paying attention to what I said?"- Pierce asked.
"Save it, Pierce. Why are you telling me about this? What do you want? Unlike yours, my time is worth something to the world, just speak your unreasonable demand and stop wasting the most valuable resource on this planet."- Aragorn cut to the chase.
"That mouth of yours..."- Ms. Shadow #1—also known as Pamela Hawley—murmured, loud enough to be heard through the hologram.
"Public support from you and the companies you represent."
"Fuck off."- Aragorn said and then faced Fury.
"If he keeps trying to involve me in his scumminess I'm going to lose it, Fury. I'm leaving."- Aragorn teleported away and left the room.
"Sir, I believe that's the best you'll get from Abner."
"We knew he wasn't likely to accept."- Pamela Hawley said.
"I know, but even if the purpose is for allocation of resources and peacemaking, it won't look good."- Pierce said.
"Sir, isn't it enough with the help that we are receiving already?"- Fury asked.
"It will be enough to pull the world out of this hole in a few years, but... meanwhile? This is intended as an attempt supported by over 80 countries to curve this current crisis."- Pierce.
'Bullshit.'- Thought Fury.
'This time he is not lying.'- Spark told Fury in his mind.
'He ain't?'
'No, the crisis has been affecting his 'pals' more fiercely than they expected, I believe. So they are indeed trying to combat the crisis, but not out of the goodness of their heart.'
'You still don't plan to make a move on the Fallen Countries?'- Fury took the chance to ask.
'No, Fury we're not the saviors of humanity. We are the saviors of the world. Humanity is lucky to be somewhat part of the world.'
'If you leave them be, Hydra and other undesirable will sink their claws in them. Are you sure this won't cause problems later?'
'No, I'm not. But we won't help the Fallen Countries anyway. It's not because of their blasphemy, but simply because our hands are tied, we don't have the maidpower or will to route resources to cater to anyone's sensitivities. We're not a restaurant.'
'I imagined, I'll see what I can do with my resources, I can't leave everything up to you.'
'Oh, so you realized your dependency on the Master Chief? Interesting character development, Fury.'
'Fuck off, Robot!'
'I was already fucking off, see you later, Fury. P.S. Talk to King Doom.'
"What will we do now, Sir? Will we proceed without Abner's people?"- Fury asked.
"SHIELD will do nothing, please focus on your current tasks, director."- Pamela Hawley ordered.
"This is an initiative that will be led and supported by the UN, so we will still intervene, with or without their help. It would have been preferred due to the image Abner's people have, but if he is unwilling to work with us, we will still proceed, nothing changed." Pierce explained.
"As you wish."- Fury consented.
"On another note, we have been able to narrow down Daybreak's base somewhere around the North Pacific."- Fury loaded a file with his 'findings' to the screen.
"Finally, some goddamned good news."- Pierced rejoiced.
'Now you just have to find the cloaked, moving, space-faring, living island before it flies away, motherfucker!'
___________________________________________________
{A/N:
That's it for the interlude, as you can see there will be a time skip for Aragorn's return.
}