Chapter 215: Preparations
20th March 2012, New York City
(Jasmine Sayre POV)
I observed as over five hundred Hydra officials, the true backbone of the organization, slumped and fell asleep. People from all around the globe had flown in, just to attend this meeting. With that done, I activated the second enchantment on the vase, and it caused an explosion powerful enough to level the entire floor. Luckily, their meeting was in the top floor, which means that the building wouldn’t be in danger of collapsing.
I grinned to myself, an entire global organization. I killed them with barely a few spells, without me even actively fighting them. I barely even left my mansion. And thus, Hydra was no more, going out not with a bang, but with a whimper.
It was the very next day that I revealed Hydra’s downfall to my family, and Bucky. I summoned them to the living room, unfortunately, Selene had to go to work today so she wasn’t here to celebrate the news. I waited until they arrived and spoke, “Well, it gladdens me to reveal that from now on, Hydra is no more, and SHIELD is on the way out. I took care of them.”
They all went slack jawed at my casual admission. Jean was the one who broke the silence, “You’re talking about Hydra, the global organization that pretty much runs the world, the bogeyman of the underworld, a group so secretive that practically no one knows of its continuing existence, let alone how wide its network spreads.”
I nodded, “Yep, pretty much. The last few days were very exciting.”
Wanda palmed her face, “When you said that we were going after Hydra next, I expected some large battle with giant weapons of mass destruction or something.”
I chuckled, “I got bored, and since using magic aggravates my condition, I chose to do it the sneaky way.”
That was a small side effect of Death’s taint. Imagine my magic being like a bowl of clear water. Death’s abilities were like drops of dye that someone put inside my magic. The more I use my magic, the more it is corrupted by the taint, and the more I am overwhelmed by its abilities. I was already burning up as it is. It was just too much. The power of a cosmic entity isn’t meant to be used without cosmic energy to regulate it.
“Is that why no one is even talking about it? As far as I can tell, the net is full of conspiracy theories about SHIELD because of the information you leaked.” Rose asked with an eyebrow raised.
I replied, snorting, “Well, I needed this information to finalize the plan, but still SHIELD being dissolved is the final nail in Hydra’s coffin. I removed all their assets, killed off their leadership, and every backup they had. The ideological aspect of Hydra, with the whole world conquering, is gone with them, leaving some mercs with no money to pay them. They’ll find other employment in the next few months; these people only follow the money. They could still survive by infiltrating SHIELD again, and all of this would have been for nothing.”
“You just didn’t like Nick Fury, and you wanted to get back at him for attacking you in your classroom when I was in high school.” Wanda replied with an amused tone.
I gave her a mock glare, “You can’t prove it.”
We all shared some laughter before Rose asked, “What about AIM?”
I shrugged, “They’re not that dangerous, just some people who can regenerate and make some fire. It’s not particularly dangerous, and I can wipe them out if I’m bored on another afternoon. I’ll leave them for Stark and the Avengers to deal with.”
I looked around the room to see everyone’s reactions to the news of Hydra’s downfall. As far as I could tell, most of them were either impressed with the achievement or exasperated with me for just destroying an evil global organization on a whim. However, the former Winter Soldier was surprisingly subdued with the news. He was now a man with no purpose, with no goals, and there was nothing for him to do, no orders for him to follow.
For the first time in seventy years, Bucky Barnes was free to do whatever he wished, but he was a man out of time, he belonged to the past. He didn’t have a place in today’s society, not really. And neither does Rogers for that matter, because the truth is, that Steve Rogers died frozen in that iceberg; all that’s left of him is Captain America, the super soldier. It's what everyone cares about today. As for Bucky, he had a few choices in front of him. He could meet up with Steve Rogers or with Logan, he could rent himself out as a bodyguard, he could do anything he wanted, and it was too much.
The truth was that humans don’t do well when they’re truly free. They tended to revert to their basic needs, return to being savages. It was a paradox, in a way, humanity will always be an imprisoned race, striving for freedom, yet not really wanting to be fully free. The truth was that people want to be free to make their choices, provided that these choices are limited. The concept of unlimited choices is too daunting for anyone to be happy, and here was a proof of this. Bucky Barnes was free, the world was his oyster, I had offered to make him a fake identity, of healing his arm, or even making him a lifelike prosthetic. My magic was dense enough that something this small wouldn’t cause my situation to deteriorate too much if I chose to make them.
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However, the man just looked lost at the choices. Being a former Army Sergeant didn’t help matters. Soldiers, especially during wars, were ordered to do everything, and in a way, this translated to how easily overwhelmed he was with the simple concept of choice.
Still, I needed to give him an offer, one that would ground him somewhat, help him get his feet under him, and start living for real. I looked at him and said, “Oh, right, Bucky, I finished your new identity. Your name will be James Barnes, a New York citizen. I kept your name since it’s common enough that no one would care, and I made a family history and everything. I also made the prosthetic you wanted, I made it as life like as possible, but I gave it a strength boost like your metal one, and it’s almost indestructible too.”
He gave me an obviously fake smile, “Thank you.”
Not satisfied with his answer, I proceeded to make my proposition, “I also wanted to offer you some employment here,” he looked confused, and I clarified, “even with Hydra pretty much done for. Inevitably, the small, fractured cells will try to make some noise. I wanted to hire you in case they make too much trouble. It’s just a small position until you make a choice on how you want to proceed in the future. You would be able to leave whenever you wanted to, but I thought it would be prudent to tell you that you are welcome here. Even if you choose to leave, you’re always going to be welcome in this place.”
His fake smile turned real. He answered me gratefully, “Thank you. I guess, I’m staying until I know what to do with my life.”
As I nodded, Rose asked me, “So, what now?”
“With the ritual being on the full moon which will occur on the twenty third of this month, I’m not planning too much right now. The Hydra thing was enough excitement for the last few days, so I guess I’ll relax at home until it’s time for the ritual.”
I nodded to myself and then remembered something, “Oh, right, Rose, there was something I wanted to talk to you about in private.”
She nodded and the both of us left the room to talk. She looked apprehensive for some reason. Did she think that I was mad at her or something?
I started, “I have told you once that you’re my chosen successor for protecting the magical world. Since we’re both free for the next couple of days, I thought that this could be a good opportunity to show you what your duties will be, and what the perks will also be.”
She visibly relaxed and grinned, “I was wondering what you meant when you said I was your successor?”
I shrugged, “Well, my duties were too big for only a single person to deal with. That being the case, I chose to divide them, for multiple successors. You, for example, are my heir in the magical world. Your main duties will be to make sure that no one in the magical world upsets the balance too much. That means no summoning demons, no mass rituals, no attempts at resurrections and so on. Like you probably noticed, I don’t involve myself with magical politics much, unless I’m bored, that is.”
“What do you mean with magical politics?” she looked confused.
“If a country chooses to adopt an extremist view, or if a wizard conquers it and becomes a magical dictator, I don’t get involved, but you could, it’s not my problem but you could see this as unacceptable, there’s nothing stopping you from interfering, I just choose not to.”
She looked outraged by my decision, “Why would you not stop them?”
I shrugged, “humans are terrible creatures. After a while, you start to see their flaws visibly, and every few decades, a mad wizard with delusions of power will try to conquer a shard of the world and declare himself as a god. I did stop them at first, but once I remove one, another appears a few years later. It happens a lot, and after a while, it’s just not worth the effort of stopping them. There are much bigger problems than idiots who call themselves dark lords. Do you have any idea how many times I heard someone proclaim themselves to be the most powerful and dangerous dark lord, or lady sometimes, in history? Trust me, Voldemort and Grindelwald are cute compared to the monsters I had to deal with in the past.”
“Well, I’m stopping them.”
“And it will be your right to, just don’t ignore your other duties in favor of fighting dark lords.”
She had a confused look on her face, “Like what?”
“I currently manage the population of magical creatures. I make sure that they’re not hunted to extinction, that they’re not defiled, and that they don't breed too much.”
“But so many magical creatures are gone now.”
I grinned at her, “That’s what the world believes. If a species is endangered, I get them and give them a home, from the cutest harmless creatures to the most dangerous breeds of dragons, I have made sure to preserve them, and take care of them. I even collect magical plants. My gardens have plants that many potion masters would salivate to get a few ingredients from. The Statute of Secrecy has caused wizards to attempt to hunt down any troublesome magical creatures in fear of revealing magic to the muggles. If they deemed the creatures to be too useful, then they domesticate them, but if they don’t then they simply killed them. I was able to save most of them, but even then, the population of magical creatures has dropped drastically in these centuries.”
Rose’s eyes lit up at the possibility of her meeting some extinct magical creatures. However, she schooled her features and asked, “That’s nice and all, but I never agreed to become your successor.”
Her reply shocked me. I always thought that it was a given thing. Rose Potter loved magic, she loved experimenting with it, using it in general. It was her passion. This should be her dream job. Why would she have any reason to refuse?
“Why wouldn’t you?”
She must have seen the shock on my face so she backpedaled, quickly, “I didn’t say that I would refuse. I just want you to do something before I can accept.”
I gave her a confused look, “Like what?”
“I want you to speak to our parents.”