Chapter 36 : Fourth Step to becoming King - Get Subjects. (Patreon)

Disclaimer - I don’t own Marvel/Disney IP. I am just a humble keyboard warrior. Also, the Chaos Gacha was made by Bronz here. I am just dipping my toe in the water, so to speak.

Krakoa

–Mike–

So, as it turns out, the assurance he got from Charles about the 9000 people capacity he had in housing was not enough, not even close, from the sound of it. 

How did he know that, even when they hadn’t come to a decision on the mode of outreach to the rest of the world? Well, as it turns out, the trait [Speak of the Devil] was Elite for a reason. The moment he got the trait, he had just been exposed to the rest of the world as the one who controlled Ghidorah, the same being that was touted as world ending by the majority of news anchors and fake god men, leading to his name being spoken by billions of people, all hating or cursing him. Maybe some were actually talking about him favourably, as if they were thankful he was bringing about the end of the world, but at the time, he had been so deafened, so overwhelmed by the sheer noise he could feel in his mind, he had turned all of that down.

It was good that he got [Sisyphean], A Legendary trait, at the same time, allowing him to easily turn all that noise down.

Now, after his announcement to the world, he was on everyone’s lips, and before Charles and Eric could come to a decision regarding how best to handle the outreach program, he thought about that particular trait and thought, why not?

Well, as it turns out, there are sooo many people just calling on him. He had no ability to know which people were mutants or not, but he did get a location read on every single one of them. As was the population distribution in the world, most of them came from Asia, with more interspersed throughout the Americas and Europe, and some from people in the seas. 

Even taking a conservative figure, his name was being spoken by atleast a couple hundred million people constantly. It was as if people took turns to make sure that his name was always on someone’s lips. It was unsettling, and when he told Charles that, he looked quite disturbed and concerned about the implications of having an ability that constantly poked someone in the mind.

Eric was concerned as well, but for different reasons. Eric told him, explicitly, that if the ability was harmful, then he should turn that off right away, because mutants can’t just jump out of the frying pan and into fire.

Well, trains couldn't be turned off, as far as he could tell, but he was not going to explain the intricacies of the system to them, so he just told them that nothing was going to happen to his mind and made them move on to the topic at hand.

At that time, it was the question of transporting mutants. The first batch was already headed to the island, consisting of Eric’s brotherhood of Mutants and the students at Charles’ schools. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how one looked at it, Charles did not currently have a student who would have a worried guardian outside of the school staff. All the kids with Charles were either orphans or might as well be, because their parents did not want anything to do with them.

He wanted to ask specifically about Jean, but he did not want to spook Charles into doing something as asinine as disappearing Jean so that her terrible power did not fall into his hands. He would solve and untangle that particular disaster when Jean arrived on his island. 

Based on what he felt during the first battle at Charles’ school, he could tell that she was quite weak, even when compared to his strength at the time. Right now? He would probably kill her before she could even perceive him. He was just that fast and strong right now, which is why he could afford the luxury of postponing having to deal with the problem that was Jean Grey.

She was someone who, in most iterations he was familiar with, was a net negative on the world, despite her awesome powers, so he would reserve his decision on her when she finally landed her. In his opinion, it would undoubtedly be best to deal with her by making her use her powers. 

Charles’ biggest mistake when it came to Jean was thinking that she wouldn’t be able to control all that power, even under his tutelage, and sealing it away. That just worsened things. Sure, it would undoubtedly be borderline catastrophic when her powers were unsealed, but they were on a special island that could heal itself instantly, on top of Ghidorah here.

He was sure that even Jean Grey with the Phoenix unlocked would falter when facing Ghidorah, at least at the initial stages. Plus, if things truly worsened, he would have both Ghidorah and another energy source to just knock Jean out, an ability that the island currently possessed.

__xx__

Right now, though, he looked up as Magneto arrived, standing on top of a giant metallic box, housing, to his senses, over a hundred different mutants, and one of them was even A-class, if the energy signatures were anything to go by.

It had been a week since the first batch of mutants, i.e., the people under Charles and Eric, had arrived on the island. They were not given a day of rest before they were all put to task, based on their respective qualities, in making sure that the island was ready to take in the first batch of mutants. They were prioritising refugees from war-torn areas, as not only were they more in need but, more importantly, it was far easier to transport people from a war zone.

No paperwork. NO permits. No stealth. No flights to care about.

Only a simple smash and grab operation, with Storm being given the power on any show of power on foreign lands. Eric had been pissed about the decision, as it meant that when away from the island on any mutant rescue mission, Storm was the one who made the final decision on whether they were going to go in silently or they were going to smash up the operation at the same time. 

Just killing the warlord, freeing the prisoners, taking the mutants, and leaving everything be was not always the right thing, despite how it might sound. Many times, according to the old people in his crew anyway, just killing the person in charge or even his entire crew was not enough to save the people. More often than not, doing that just brings about more carnage, during which the power vacuum is filled by just another warlord.

Which is why, seeing the blood splatters on Storm’s otherwise pristine garb, he could tell that they had decided to involve themselves. Sighing, he resolved to understand more about what had happened and if they could spare some people to make sure that the problem did not arise again in the African settlement that they had just killed the warlord of.

Even without talking to them, he could tell that much. Shaking his head, he removed the small path he had created in the Fog, for Eric and the metal ball to get through, before closing the whole thing.

He was sure that SHIELD and many other three letter spy agencies around the world had seen Eric’s entry and realised that they had begun taking in mutants, but that was fine for him. Let them know. It was not like they could stop him in any capacity.

He could accomplish everything he wanted without being stealthy. It’s just that it would be good for global stability if he did so. Now, all he needed was a teleporting mutation that could take him to any part of the world without being detected. Now, that would be a huge game changer for the nation as a whole. 

If he got that ability, then it would be an instant game over for their foes. As teleportation, coupled with the [Speak of the Devil], would mean that he was only a thought away from someone.

Shaking his head, he watched as Eric landed on the ground, Storm following suit, as the huge metallic box landed on the island as well, slightly sinking before he hardened the soil beneath it.

Hank McCoy excitedly ran forward, a computer in his hand, as he placed it on the authorization pad on the evacuation box, before hurriedly jumping back. A few seconds later, the box unfurled, four massive slabs of heavy reinforced metal stopping just shy of hitting the ground and creating a massive dust cloud, courtesy of his wind manipulation. He could feel Storm about to do the same, but withdrawing upon seeing that he had things under control. He was pretty sure that his control over the storm and wind was more than Ororo's, but there was some Divine mambo jumbo happening there, and he was unsure about her true ceiling if she embraced her heritage.

The same for Thor. He was not sure which version of Thor he would meet here. If he met comic book Thor here, then it was safe to say that he was absolutely cooked here, the less said about someone truly absurd like Rune King Thor. 

The insides of the metal cube were yet another layer of reinforced metal keeping everything safe inside, but that was not as strong as the outer layer. Multiple doors appeared on the inside frame, revealing multiple people huddled together in various states of disarray, with many more sleeping on hospital beds.

At least they were all clothed properly. The team, consisting more of robots than humans, rushed forth to get everyone out of the evacuation box and properly processed before they could get proper housing. It was a nice plan Charles had come up with to make sure that people were not bothered later on for more information.

With Krakoa being more of an extension of his own senses at this point, he could pinpoint and locate any single mutant on the island, as well as get a visual if need be, privacy be damned. So, people wandering off was not any concern.

And even if they did, there was nothing of importance stored above ground. Anything important was stored underground, just like the four blast doors that sank into the ground. He noted the signs of explosions on a single outer door, looking at Eric silently for an explanation.

Eric grunted before replying, “They worked flawlessly. Not a scratch. They did their best. Some of them even had energy weapons. We are going to need more of them.”

“I take it you took care of all of them?”

Eric nodded. “Yes, she decided to destroy everything in sight when we saw that they would rather kill them instead of letting them leave.” Eric’s face darkened a bit as he continued, “We lost 23 people because we were too late. The bastards had explosives planted in—”

Eric took a deep breath, clearly struggling to contain his emotions. He moved on from the topic. He could always read the report from both Storm and Eric later on. Plus, there were a plethora of cameras and sensors on the evacuation box.

However, their protection was not guaranteed, as they were all on the outside of the box. 

As for Eric asking for more of those panels, he nodded, “I will see what I can do. Also, you should get ready. I think they have located three more locations you will have to hit soon.”

Eric’s jaw tightened. “How many?”

“350, give or take.”

Eric nodded before practically stomping over to Storm, who looked nonplussed at Eric’s arrival. He left them to their conversation before walking forward towards Hank, who was looking at what was undoubtedly all the data he gathered.

“Dr.McCoy,”

“Governor!”

He rolled his eyes at the title before asking the man in blue, “So, what’s the verdict?”

“Oh, fantastic!” Hank explained to him, “The blast doors worked perfectly. A little too well, if you ask me. I think we can afford to reduce the Vibranium in the mixture even more, to reduce energy expenditure. Also, I have been trying to find the formula for this Proto Adamantium, as you call it, but nothing of that sort exists anywhere.”

Yup. Those doors? The ones that were the primary wall between everything that this universe could throw at any mutants headed towards a good place in their life, and the aforementioned good place, i.e., his island, were made up of a Vibranium alloy. 

Surprisingly, Hank had a lot of public data on Vibranium, on top of whatever information about mixing the miracle metal with other metals to get different results. This was the pilot test, and those doors could take a lot of abuse, as they had every mutant present use their powers on the doors as a test, but none could overwhelm the doors.

Sure, because it was not pure, refined Vibranium, it could not just absorb energy in any form and then release that in an explosive manner, but what it could do was take a lot of damage. Even prolonged exposure to Scott’s laser beams did not work. 

He could have tried to do so, but it would have been overkill, and besides, with Eric and Storm, he had no worries about their safety, as Hank had cleared the area of any threat. Plus, worst case scenario, they were all constantly transmitting data back here, and the moment they went dark, he could be up in the air and at their location within the minute.

Viltrumite Physiology was really busted like that. He’d gone to space and back, easily going past Mars and coming back without any issue whatsoever. He even did a small prank on Mars, but since he was currently in the citizen gathering phase, he had not met anyone from SHIELD yet; otherwise, he would have definitely requested Fury’s reaction when he heard the news.

__xx___

[A few days ago]

Triskelion

“Hill?”

“Yes, Director Fury.”

“What is this?”

“Sir…this is the latest information transmitted from the Mars Rover, redacted by POTUS immediately once they realised what it was.”

“Are you sure this is not some prank?”

“No, sir. Dozens of our analysts have gone through the entire data and made sure that not even a pixel of it is manipulated in some form, not to mention the ones that POTUS has undoubtedly sent it to.”

“I see.”

…..

….

“Sir?”

“Yes?”

“What are our further orders?”

“Ha! What further orders, Hill? What can we even do against….that?!”

Fury slammed his hands on the desk, pointing at the image projected on the wall in front of them, showing a human, without a single piece of protective gear, doing silly poses in front of the Mars rover, before the man began approaching the camera. There was a gap in the video feed before it showed what the man had done. The man had used some kind of marker to write - 

What’re you doing so Far From Home, buddy?

“He thinks it’s a joke, sir,” Hill replied after a moment of silence.

“To him? Someone who can travel to Mars and back in the same hour can certainly afford to treat everything like a joke. Begin drafting proposals for space travel as well as transport, to be presented to his nation that he is building.”

“Sir! Are you sure that is a wise course of action? The major powers will certainly not stand for someone unilaterally declaring themselves King, and acknowledge them.”

Fury chuckled bitterly, “Hill, you are missing the point. He is the power now. Now, get me a draft agreement before someone else approaches the buffoon."

“Yes, sir!”

___xx__

“I am glad it worked out well. Eric says that we are going to need a lot more of these. I can build the outer layers within minutes. The inner box is the issue. How long would it take to build a new one? Provided I give you all the materials needed immediately.” He asked Hank, because the box itself was made by Hank, who had actually had a design ready when he’d asked the man about something to help transport a large number of people safely.

Sure, Magneto could accelerate stuff to Mach speed quite easily and lift thousands of people without any issue and maybe even defend them, but the optics mattered. He couldn't have people’s first exposure to his island staff be in a small box, surrounded by bullets and explosions, with that protection relying on the mutant prowess of a single mutant.

He wanted to make sure that in case Eric had to attend to some powerful enemy, the box itself would remain safe. Ultimately, they had come up with this in less than a day, as Hank had been over the moon to know that he had access to Vibranium now.

He just needed to know the chemical makeup for the island to gorge on truly massive amounts of electricity, and voila! Krakoa now had over 20 tonnes of Vibranium, and from what he got from Ghidorah, it had only taken 30% of the Kaiju’s total reserves.

Truly, that ability was very costly. Thank the Gacha Gods for Ghidorah.

“Hmm,” Hank’s eyes glazed over at his question as the man began doing some mental calculations, “If you can get Eric to help, we can have three more of these built today itself.”

He smiled widely, "Excellent. Wrap up the data collection and meet me in the Hangar below. We will get started now. They have an assignment already and need to head out soon.”

Hank smiled happily as well, nodding before getting sucked into the screen in his hand.

Leaving Hank to his data, he flew up and locked his gaze on the processing centre they had built for all the refugees. After which, they could go on to live inside the houses built for them.

Not the individual ones, no. Someone in Eric's team was a doctor at one point but could not practice anymore because they had become a lizard hybrid, and they told him that traumatised individuals couldn't stay alone. Hence, communal living was mandated for at least a month after arrival, as most of their early targets were going to be mutant refugees from war-torn areas.

Fourth Step to becoming King - Get Subjects.

Word Count - 3122