Chapter 39 : Ancient One Secured? Maybe. Coulson shocked? Definitely.... (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.

New York City

–Mike–

“So,” He began conversationally, deliberately ignoring the shocked look on her face, “How does it feel to not have Dark Energy inside your body for the first time in centuries? Or maybe more?”

The Ancient One had the troubled look on her face only for a moment before she straightened up and looked at him with naked curiosity. “You can command the very Darkness around you.”

He nodded, not bothering to hide it, especially since he was going to need her to know everything anyway. “Yup. I am now a being of darkness. And as such, Darkness in this dimension is mine to command. Save for the Infinity Stones, Celestials, and maybe some Omnipotent God whose entire shtick is Darkness, I don't think there is anything that can control Darkness and Dark Energy better than me on this material plane.”

Her eyes sharpened as she read between the lines, “But not beyond the Lord of the Dark Dimension.”

He waved her off, “Nope. That is impossible without being elevated to the same level as him, and that will mean leaving behind this plane entirely. I have so much left to see and experience before I am ready to take that step.”

“So, you believe yourself capable of becoming an Elder God?”

He smirked at her in amusement. “That is a trick question. There is no need to become an Elder God, as you called them, to have a realm to yourself. Hell, you could have a realm attached to you and slowly grow over time until eventually, the universe ejects you from this plane and into your own, all without becoming an Elder God in the process.”

She hummed and looked at him with interest. “You seem to be quite aware of things that are not written anywhere. Information of that level is restricted to beings who could be counted on a single hand.”

He shrugged, not explaining anything, as he just waited for her to speak first. After all, while it would certainly be nice to have her on board his Kingdom, as that alone would guarantee his country prospering to never seen before levels. Magic was one hell of a force multiplier, and with him acting as a deterrent, generations of magic users could be born under his rule, cementing his power even further. 

…On the other hand, even if she did not agree to any of his conditions, it would be fine, as he could just learn through someone else. After all, before this, the risk of learning from non official sources was learning incomplete information, or the person in question purposefully sabotaging him. Now, though? Now, he had the ability to break them from the inside without learning an ounce of magic from them, hence the deterrence. 

Still, he would much rather learn from willing partners, and as such, the best option was the Ancient One still. 

“What do you want?” The question came out sounding entirely neutral, which was expected since this was a centuries old woman, so getting irritated over something was beneath her, but he still smiled. After all, he had managed to get one over the Sorcerer Supreme, perhaps the strongest one in recent times.

He looked out towards the sea. “My country is still young, really small too. Unlike other countries, I want everyone to use their powers freely. Some of those powers are clearly intertwined with magic, and as such, I need an expert to preside over all the magical matters of my country.”

“You wish for me to have Kamar Taj be subservient to your nation?”

He scoffed, “Please. I don’t have a death wish. No, I just want you as a member of my Council, for magical matters. Also, we can discuss something like a small quota of students we can send your way, or you can open a Sanctum in my country, but those are optional things. Even without that, as long as you teach me and allow me to teach others the basics, just your presence would be enough.”

She gave him a look, and after being silent for almost a minute, replied, “My duty as the Sorcerer Supreme is binding. I can’t accept any other position while I hold this responsibility."

Wow, was that longing he was hearing in her voice? She must really want out from that Dark Energy situation, then?

“What if you abdicate?”

“And pass on the responsibility to whom?”

“Wong?”

“He’s too young.”

“Mordo?”

“Same.”

“Master Hamir?”

She gave him a look for the suggestion, making him point at her in faux outrage, “If you are disqualifying him simply because of his lack of a limb, then I am sorry to say, but that is discrimination, and is illegal in all the jurisdictions that Kamar Taj operates in.”

“It is not.”

“No, it is not. You’re right.”

“Also, Master Hamir, while an exceptionally capable Master, is more focused on the Energy conjuration and manipulation side of things, and prefers to remain focused on his research. He would loathe getting additional responsibility, and would look at it as if it were a burden.”

“Isn’t it a burden, though?” He gave her a look, his gaze locked on the position where the Eye of Agamotto would usually rest.

Her hand instinctively went to that place, and his eyes widened as he felt it. A truly massive amount of energy, unstoppable in its application, rushed forth to break through the Dark Energy cube blockade he had erected in place, shattering it with contemptuous ease, before a green flash heralded the arrival of the Eye.

He instinctively shut his eyes, feeling slight discomfort from the Infinity Stone energy, before opening them to see the Eye floating in front of the Ancient One, who reached out and took it within her grasp, the Dark Mark on her forehead already fading away, as she used magic to conceal it. With his blockade gone, she must be feeling the Dark Energy once more, but it seemed fine to her.

He supposed that living in that manner for centuries on end would make it familiar enough. Never comforting, but familiar for sure.

The glow around the Eye faded as it latched around her neck.

“So, what will it be?” 

“We will meet soon.” With that unexpected reply, the woman just straight up dissolved into sand in front of him, her energy signature instantly disappearing. Sand teleportation, huh? A new method then.

Shaking his head, he looked behind him as the service entrance to the terrace, and this area was pushed open, revealing Agent Coulson’s unflappable face. Nodding at the Agent, he just turned around and lay on the Gargoyle statue on the building. 

He wished more new buildings installed such artistic pieces instead of just building glass facades that did nothing but increased Air Conditioning costs and looked hideous.

Coulson stopped a little distance behind him. “Mr.Mike.”

“Agent Coulson.”

“You have a meeting with the UN tomorrow.”

“Yup.”

“We had secured transport arrangements for you near your dwelling.” He smirked at Coulson deliberately avoiding the word country. Well, let’s go one step further.

Turning around, he smiled at Coulson, “You mean, my kingdom?”

Coulson looked uncomfortable at the mere notion, so he spared the man and moved on to the next topic at hand. “Yes, Agent Coulson. I need secured transport to come here, when I didn’t need it to go to Mars and back.”

“Director Fury wishes to talk to you regarding that.”

“Yeah, well, he can call my assistant.”

“We have tried. They did not respond adequately."

“Maybe you didn’t ask nicely.”

“...Mr.Mike.”

“Or maybe, Agent Coulson, my country and kingdom are still in the early phases and, as such, can’t really afford to spend time doing anything else but rescue more and more people who are going to be my citizens.”

“You wish to be King?” Coulson asked him, and something within his tone made him pause. Maybe this was Coulson asking instead of his superiors. He heard frantic whispers from Coulson’s ears before he simply took the comms out and pocketed it, before carefully walking to stand on the Gargoyle as well, without any harness.

Respect.

“You wish to rule over other people? On what basis? Because you have power?” Wow. That was some ideologically charged questions right there.

He smiled and indulged the honest man, “Well, Agent Coulson. My initial reason to do that was just to get the cops off my back.

He continued, ignoring the shocked and disbelieving look on Coulson’s face, “Then, I thought if I was going to do it anyway, why not do it properly? So, I found a nice place. Got some people to work for me. Made sure that the rescued people had all the resources and time they needed to heal and live in a dignified manner. I also gave them protection and assurance. And in the coming days, we will be the most coveted trade partner, as I am sure you are aware of.”

“Space travel.”

He nodded. “Yup, but you are thinking too small, Agent. Space Travel will only be a small part of the pie. Space transport is where the money is going to be at. Just imagine, if a single trip could net me a few dozen pounds of Vibranium, then what I could—”

“Excuse me, did you just say that you found Vibranium in Space?” Coulson asked him with slightly wide eyes, shocked.

He paused and gave the man a smile. “Well, yes, Agent Coulson. Vibranium is rare only on Earth. Out there, it can easily be obtained. Anyway, guess what my clothes are made of right now.”

Coulson froze at that before his gaze went to the full tracksuit he was wearing at the moment, covering every single part of his body. It was something he had used before coming here. It was one of the earlier Gacha rolls, something he had lying around, and he used it now because it was probably a very good idea to have some extra protection just in case the worst case scenario unfolded.

Him losing all his powers and people attacking him meant that he had to buy enough time for Ghidorah to cross that distance and come save him, or destroy everything around him. Either way, he needed some defense that was not reliant on his physical body, and these clothes were perfectly suited for that.

The item [Vibranium Weave Patch] was capable of turning regular clothing into stuff that would give the Black Panther suit a run for its money. It even had the kinetic energy absorption and explosion feature built into it, all the while keeping the fabric perfectly soft and comfortable. Plus, it came with a hood, which meant that he would truly have the highest level of protection.

“You mean to tell me that the clothes have Vibranium inside of them?”

“Thin VIbranium strands woven in with regular thread, yes.”

“How is that even possible? The technology required to do that–”

“Is completely proprietary and probably won’t be given to anyone anytime soon; I can tell you that much.”

Coulson gave him a doubtful look at that. How much of that was real and how much of it was meant to provoke him, he did not know, but he did not mind giving Coulson a demo anyway.

He casually raised his fist and knocked on his chest, the physical impact not creating any sound as most of the kinetic energy was absorbed by the tracksuit. Coulson’s eyes tracked the small purple veins that appeared all around the point of impact. He repeated the impact a couple more times, before the entire tracksuit was now covered in crisscrossing purple lines.

After that, he grinned and pointed his hand straight up. “Watch.”

And released all that energy in a single shockwave, creating a thunderous blast all around him. Coulson stumbled from the sudden shockwave, only saved by the cloak of wind he had around the man.

He also could have used his newfangled Dark Energy constructs, but he had a hunch that they were not going to be that well received.

Looking at the ruffled appearance of Coulson, he took the liberty to explain just what had happened, as these poor guys had no idea what Vibranium could truly do, aside from being a frisbee in the hands of perhaps the most skilled user of that particular frisbee.

“So, Vibranium is not just stupidly durable, but it is also capable of absorbing all the kinetic energy and then if it is refined in a certain manner, can release all that stored energy in one spectacular explosion.”

He explained that with a smug smile on his face. Now, one might wonder why he did what he did. After all, the current rendition of SHIELD was more akin to a carcass being piloted by the HYDRA parasite, or maybe it would be in the future, and right now, it was not that bad, but it was well on its way. The main issue was that the higher authority within SHIELD, the WSC were compromised, and as such, anything he was saying here was going to find its way there anyway.

So, why do this?

For one, even if HYDRA found out about this, they had no feasible way of exploiting that weakness, and if before he was worried they might have aligned themselves with some rogue magic users who would be able to combine some of HYDRA’s whack jobs to get the desired result, then with his latest roll, that fear had also evaporated.

For now, he was just going to pass this information to Coulson, who had not their reasons that every single electronic device he had on his person was short circuited from the inside, and there was a wind dome all around them, scrambling their voices to anyone listening. Once Coulson gave this to Fury, and then when Fury saw that information being used in the UN attack that was undoubtedly going to happen on him, then maybe he could convince Fury to do a joint HYDRA cleanup operation.

Either way, his job here was done as he could sense an entire team of armed agents rushing up the stairs.

“So, do what you will with that information. I will take my leave now. I think they have some kind of seat reserved for me at the UN, do they not? I think I can wait a couple hours until everyone arrives.”

Coulson made to speak, only to fall flat on his ass as he rocketed towards the UN building, having accelerated from zero to just near Mach speeds in an instant, his physique and now even his clothes more than capable of withstanding that level of force.

Within seconds, the UN building was visible to him as he angled his descent, but did not reduce his speed, stopping just as his feet were within an inch of the ground, creating a curtain of air around him.

He could see armed personnel moving into position as he leisurely floated forward, ignoring all the guns pointed at him, and the shocked whispers and shouts of people behind him.

Unfettered by the guns around him, he floated into the lobby, looking at the shocked faces of the poor receptionist, along with a few other people who looked like they just worked here and were not armed in any way. They were probably interns.

Poor them.

Anyway, he cleared his throat, making the receptionist snap out of it, as he smiled, “I believe I have an appointment today. I am Mr.Mike, King of a yet to be named country, if that helps.”

Let’s see what they had in store for him. 

Also, I have got to get a name for the country.

First thing after returning, he was going to hold a poll for the name, or maybe once they had 10k people, he could do that. Right now, they were just below 7k, and depending on how things went here, that number might balloon to 10k within days.

Word Count - 2721

A/N - UN beatdown and some power demonstrations next chapter.