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Chapter 116
Technomancer in MCU
New Asgard, North Pole, Earth
–Frank Castle–
“What?” He said in case he had misheard whatever Alfred was saying to them because if it was true, it meant that their timelines just moved up immensely.
It was Ed who replied with a sigh instead of Alfred, “It’s true, Frank. We had protocols in place for this but turns out, Thanos was just one step ahead in this case.”
“How?! When? I thought Alfred’s mind was safe from magical exploitation because of his fancy runes and stuff?” Daisy butted into the conversation. They were sitting in their temporary commander’s cabins in the city of New Asgard. The work was almost done. Now, the city could float on its own for decades without the need for any major work done on it. Life support systems had come alive a while ago and weather control systems that were installed externally were turned off, allowing for the internal systems to take over. Now, all that was left was to cover the foundation in an extra layer of vibranium alloy, allowing it to turn into a veritable fortress, even if by chance the barriers surrounding the city fell apart.
“I don’t know the specifics of it but the spell that Thanos used could be used to a devastating degree if the scope of the spell is small enough. In this case, only two people were applicable for the parameters of the spell, and with the power source being an Infinity Stone, *sigh*..” Ed sighed.
“-yeah, I can see how you guys couldn’t defend against something like that. So, Thanos has the thing that will allow him to use the Infinity Stones without going caput instantly?” Daisy asked him.
“Basically, yeah. It also turns him into a vastly more dangerous opponent because the Gauntlet will allow him to use the numerous powers of the Infinity Stones without them extracting the usual toll on his body, allowing him to remain in fighting condition for a lot longer if he didn’t the Gauntlet on,” Ed replied.
“Hang on, why is Alfred not saying anything?” He said in between, noticing the absence of Alfred in the group chat that was happening once they had established a solid connection with Asgard’s ground team.
“..He is…busy. Look, the news of Thanos killing almost the entire species of Dwarves has hit the morale of all the forces here. That includes Alfred and I don’t blame anyone for that. It’s just that despite that, we have to keep moving so Alfred is doing what he does best, work. I think you guys will have to get here for security soon as well. We’ll talk then, alright?” Ed said and cut off the comms since the important report was done transferring from Asgard. The report was compiled by Alfred in real time once he had experienced the things. It was one of the nifty things that Alfred had invented and made a partition for that works continuously in the background.
So, once the comms link was cut, he opened the report and cast it on the big hologram so that both he and Daisy could read it at once. It detailed everything that had happened in Asgard ever since Alfred had landed there.
From the Dark Elves' attack to the soul mutilation that Alfred had performed on himself in order to break the spell that had so strongly attached to his and Ed’s souls. As it turned out, Ed had known of a surefire way to stop Thanos from completing his goals and had even written it down in Alfred’s code but had never trusted anybody else with that. He could understand the reasoning. None of them were anywhere near strong enough to resist Thanos’ means if they had ever gotten caught up in Thanos’ net. Ed could not risk important information like that finding its way to Thanos’ hands but it hurt all the same.
He looked at Daisy as she gasped. She was already in tears as she was reading the report and he could understand why. He was aware of the heart-rending pain that one must endure in order to even become an enhanced person. He had read in one of the mandatory educational sessions that were conducted by Alfred that in order to permanently enhance someone, you needed to alter their soul as well. So, during the process of artificially enhancing someone, one needs to not only elevate their physical body, but the soul must be taken into account as well. That was why the pain was so intense. Alfred could easily disable the pain receptors in the body but the pain of the soul cannot be turned off.
Even then, the pain that most people, including him, felt was just the soul being touched by nourishing energy. In his case, the energy was something that would have undoubtedly helped the soul become stronger and to this day, he would not wish that pain on anybody he knew. The pain was just a fraction of something that Alfred must have felt.
The soul knows when something is harmful or beneficial for it. So, for him to feel so much pain even though it was beneficial, he could only imagine the pain that Alfred must have felt when he intentionally cast the spell to brand his very soul with runes and then powered the runes with energy from a dozen different alternate dimensions, allowing him with just enough of a window to break free from the spell that Thanos had cast on them. It just served to educate them more about the dangers associated with the Infinity Stones if even beings on the level of Alfred and Ed could be so easily affected without them even knowing one lick about it.
According to Alfred, the backlash of the spell affected Alfred but it should have hurt Thanos even more. Being so entwined with the spell meant that Thanos’ soul was at least a little bit hurt at this moment which was a small relief even if it was overshadowed by the fact that Thanos could very easily heal the little damage done to his soul with the help of the Soul Stone which was most likely already installed in the Gauntlet. The gauntlet should allow Thanos to use the Stone in a limited way and heal his soul.
The backlash bit was what threw him in for a loop. To think that even the backlash was so huge that Alfred was left almost completely incapacitated. He had mentioned in the report that he had already thought of a way to negate that effect but the timeline had moved up a lot since then.
Stolen story; please report.
Now, they had express orders to hand over the remaining work to the people below them and leave for Asgard as soon as possible.
“So, when do we leave?” He heard the quiver in Daisy’s voice even though her voice held nothing but hate and disgust for Thanos.
He took one look at her and immediately quashed the idea of rejecting her from his mind. She would probably rampage and reach Asgard on her own anyway. She was very much attached to Alfred like that. Besides, they had express orders to reach Asgard anyway for the final battle. It was not as if he could stop her in any meaningful way. There was a very small chance that she would stop but it was not as if she was not someone who could surpass his authority if she wanted to.
No, she was stronger than him even on her worst days and he was not about to let his thoughts of protecting her get in the way of Ed getting his strongest allies there to protect him.
“Before we leave, we have a couple of unruly scientists on our hand that should have some way of increasing the firepower we have on hand with us,”
“Noo, not Stark. There is no way that man should know about the current situation. You know as well as I do that the man will panic and make rash decisions,” Daisy shook her head in annoyance at that man. She was not a fan of Stark and his decisions and he was pretty aware of it. In the first place, she was not a fan of his womanizing tendencies but coupling that with his weapons fortune, Stark was a big fat no for Daisy.
“You know that Dr.Banner will be a huge help for us. Not to mention that Stark’s intellect will help us a lot. With Ed and Alfred, both involved directly in the ritual, having someone of Stark's intellect with us to make snap decisions would help us a lot. I am sure that even Alfredf would agree.” He said, hoping to convince her. She was of the mind that Stark and Banner should remain in their studded prison until the whole issue was tided over.
He, on the other hand, was of the mind that it would be unfair to not give the Avengers at least the chance to fight for their own and loved ones’ survival.
“Come on, let’s go meet our guests,” He stood up and got out of the tent.
The scene that greeted him never failed to take his breath away. He had purposefully ordered for his tent to be installed at the very edge of the island. Now that the city was no longer chained down to the ground as a precaution, he could see the huge white expanse of snow that filled his entire vision. On the ground, he could see the remains of the ground facility that was on the verge of being dismantled and was only left standing because Alfred had ordered for all standing assets to be devoted to speed run the operation of New Asgard, bypassing many SOPs in exchange for making the city operational days in advance. Sure, the city was not exactly hundred percent safe for humans as of now but Asgardians were a hardy bunch and they could hardly be blamed for a couple of niceties being unfinished in exchange for them having a functional, safe home in time for the ritual.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Daisy said as she stood beside him.
“Too bad we don’t have more time to enjoy the view then. Let’s go,” He took one last look at the sea of white and nudged Daisy towards the prison tent that was relocated from the ground facility to the city centre that was made as an elevated stage.
They entered the prison facility and dismissed the guard who was stationed to make sure that Stark did not do anything untoward. Judging by the relieved look on the guard's face when he dismissed him, Stark had done his job of thoroughly annoying any guard that they had assigned to him.
“Oh, if it isn't the people who are illegally imprisoning the world's richest man. I’ll sue you know?” Stark flippantly said as he continued to bounce the tennis ball that was given to him in a bid to remove his boredom. Dr.Banner was resting on his comfortable bed, reading the book that Alfred had authored, one of the many hundreds that he had made in the background as he continued to research and gain more knowledge in dozens of different fields. Alfred had even created some fields of research and he was sure that Dr.Banner’s curiosity was something that would easily convince him to abandon his life in the States and come live here permanently.
“Stark, I have no time for niceties right now. The Universe as we know it is at stake and I’m sure that despite your overall behaviour, your intellect can be put to good use.” He said and opened the doors to their respective prisons.
Dr.Banner, having been the ideal guest, was given all the amenities he had asked for, and Stark, being who he was, was given just a bed and a toilet. He was sure that the guard had a field day seeing Stark becoming jealous over Bruce reading about technology that hadn’t even been theories about in the outside world.
Something in his tone must have alerted them because Stark took one look at him and Bruce before straightening up, “So, what happened that the big bad Alfred can’t take care of? I have some words for Ed as well so I will be grateful if we can meet them soon,” Stark said as he fixed his suit. Banner nodded at Stark’s statement as well.
Something must have happened for them to say that but it was not his problem at this stage.
“Very well, I will have someone escort you to your suits. We will be leaving for Asgard in a couple of hours. Prepare as much as you can. It is literally a life-and-death situation and all sorts of firepower will be greatly appreciated. There is no limit for luggage so you can bring in your large Arc Reactor for all I care. A carrier will be there to pick you up at the tower.” He said to Stark before turning to Dr.Banner.
“Dr.Banner, while I am aware that you have not yet fully merged with the Hulk, we have need of his power in the upcoming fight and I will be personally grateful if you could make an accord with him,”
Dr.Banner sighed and nodded his head.
Well, that was taken care of.
Stark took a long look at him and Daisy but did not say anything. He then left the tent, presumably towards their suits that were kept on display just outside the tent. Dr.Banner followed suit.
After a minute, they heard the telltale signs of repulsor jets activating and the suits leaving the city of New Asgard.
He just hoped that Asgardians came to actually live in this city in their current state. Not in the weakened state that they would be if Thanos actually succeeded.
Killing off half of the population of the entire universe.
“I will kill him or die trying,” He muttered to himself, clenching his fists. He will not lose his family. Not after all Ed had done for his family to be as prosperous as it was now.
Dying for Ed and his family’s sake would not be a bad way to go. It would be worth it, even.
“Frank? Frank, what is going on? I just got the orders for full evac of all families.” He heard Maria speak into his comms.
And so, it began.
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Word Count - 2445
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