Chapter 43 : Eighth Step of becoming King - Keep Your natural counters close! (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–

His eyes fluttered open as he looked up at the sun’s rays shining down on his face. It was very pleasantly warm, though, instead of being harsh, even if he was sleeping on the tallest mountain peak on the island, one that he had raised last night because he figured that his nation should have a tall mountain peak as well, for recreational activities.

He wouldn't want his citizens to have to travel to other places just so they could climb mountains and hike trails. They will have everything they need right here, in this great country.

Speaking of the great country that he had founded and was leading, today was the vote to choose the name of the country. Ororo was in charge of gathering the five most popular names for the country, and then put all five of them up for a vote.

The name with the highest votes wins. Democracy in its simplest form, only there was a tiny asterisk to the whole thing, namely that he had veto power over everything, just in case someone suggested a really corny name like Island nation or something. He somewhat believed in democracy, but he was also sure that most people were stupid and, collectively, people were even stupider.

So, with that in mind, he got up and looked up at the filtered sunlight and air entering the Fog and then the area around the island. It had barely taken him an hour before he was able to manipulate the Fog surrounding the island in such a way that it did not let UV beyond a certain range enter, and also filtered the very air that enters the island.

No air pollution and lowered chances of skin cancer. A win-win in just a few hours of work. The mountain, on the other hand, took a shit ton of energy but not a lot of effort. While he was able to easily get rough to make the mountain, Ghidorah expressed slight displeasure at just being treated as a battery without getting to eat anything.

So, he had an asinine idea, and after implementing it, it was no longer asinine. 

Floating off the mountain peak, he flew down and turned right until he found himself facing an invisible wall of energy, sealing off a large section of the island that had to be built up on a separate land parcel that he just connected to the rest of the island underwater, with no visible path to get to the closed off space. You would need flight to even get close to the barrier, and to get beyond that, well….

His hands phased past the barrier as he slipped inside the area specifically created for Ghidorah, and instantly, he could feel the heat. Well, he could feel the warmth in the space, one could say.

See, the same power that let him filter the UV that hit the Fog also let him move the UV around. Right now, the entire fog was active as a massive magnifying glass, taking in all the high energy radiation and then concentrating that into a single spot.

In the centre of all this radiation was the sleeping form of Ghidorah, who had expressed happiness at being fed all the time, even without taking a single step. Apparently, Ghidorah was a hungry boi! And the ability to feast on energy while it lounged about like a cat was making it very happy, which in turn ensured that he did not need to do anything risky like letting Ghidorah travel out to space to get the needed radiation or have a few nuclear disasters around the world cleaned up.

He was still planning on doing the latter, but only when countries had sent their representatives to acknowledge his country as an official one.

It had only been a few days since his speech in the UN, and while the government had been slow to respond, the private sector had been lightning quick, with agents claiming to represent multiple companies on boats near his island within the same day. He hadn’t allowed any of them to get past the initial greeting stage, ordering his people to make sure all of them were safely moved away from the island.

Then, there was the public opinion, which was shifting by the day. Confirmed by Charles, the world had seen firsthand the kind of torture that mutants had to bear, and what the result of more discrimination was going to be, which just led to the approval ratings of the Senators with the Anti-Mutant bills to crash through the floor.

He foresaw Sublime pulling his hair out as his hold over human politics was slipping by the minute, as it was all but confirmed, as long as humans did not forget the harrowing sights of kids with ribs visible, that no new Senator was going to touch those anti-mutant bills with a ten foot pole. Even if someone political was stupid enough to do that, the business that stood to gain a lot from trading with his nation would ensure that politicians never got any real power.

Sublime might have a supernatural mind controlling hold over some parts of the human race, but he had the power of human greed on his side. It was all but confirmed that Sublime, even with his power, was not going to be able to stop him from showing an actual functioning mutant society, with riches beyond everyone’s imagination, with a nation that was going to be the closest thing possible to an utopia without things devolving into stagnation.

Making sure that the energy field was holding up, and Ghidorah was not in any danger of overloading itself, he got out of the force field and flew to the city where the voting was supposedly already underway.

He should have been there way earlier, so that he could have vetoed any cringey name, but it was so peaceful at the top of that mountain, with a noise suppression wind field around him that literally stopped sound waves from travelling through the air, that he just lost track of time.

Spotting the orderly line that was there for voting, he made sure no one noticed him as he slipped into the administrative building to see what the vote was leading to.

___x__

“Hmm,” he said to himself as he watched the number one name in the race and the second one was not even close.

Turning to Ororo, “Really? Don’t you think that’s a little on the nose?”

She shrugged. “They chose the name, and since you were unreachable, the others made the executive decision to keep the name in, and as you can see, the name resonates with the people.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” He nodded before turning to the board in front of him, showing the votes being added in real time. The people’s choice was clear.

Sighing, he nodded to himself, “Alright, then. Sanctuary it is.”

Well, it fit the theme of what he was trying to accomplish here, and people clearly liked what he was doing if they were naming his nation that.

“Also, I would like to add something to that,” He told Ororo, who raised an eyebrow as he took a pen from her office and added an I after the word on the screen, which probably was not the best choice, judging by the deadpan on Ororo’s face.

“Sorry,” He replied sheepishly before continuing, “I think we should make it Sanctuary I for this place.”

An eyebrow rose in response to his statement. “Are you planning on adding another?”

He shrugged, “It never hurts to have the name handy just in case we do add another Sanctuary, right?”

Chuckling at his own genius, he moved on from her office and floated back to his residence. He had to get a hot shower in, even though standing in that high UV environment for even a few seconds should be more than enough to get rid of any bacteria that might be present anywhere on his body.

Honestly, if they could survive, that UV chamber GHidorah was currently resting in was probably the best way to sanitise something of anything living. The sun really was the best life giver and life killer in the solar system.

It was all about balance, and fortunately for him and the citizens of Sanctuary I, the Fog surrounding the island could filter out anything he wanted.

He hadn't yet tried to check if he could filter something truly poisonous, such as radioactive air, methane, or poison in the air and water, if the entire planet had been poisoned by it. Sure, in small quantities? The Fog could handle all that and more with ease, without even relying on Ghidorah’s energy.

But if the entire planet was poisoned and the Fog still had to filter everything to make sure the people living inside were not dead, then it might pose a challenge.

Something he was going to have to check, and it was sure to become a good exercise for everyone in the safety department, as they now had a safety department responsible for making sure that all the citizens of the country were safe from everything save for external enemies or internal law and order issues.

Basically, as long as it was not related to law and order, and it could potentially pose a threat to his citizens, it was their responsibility to ensure that it did not happen.

Clean air. Clean water. Fresh food. No UV. Microplastics. Bad medicine. And more.

All of that had to be regulated to make sure that his citizens were not at the mercy of some foreign power, just so they could live.

Already, they had ruled out high sugar products for everyone. They seemed a little too enthusiastic, but he could appreciate initiative. Besides, he was curious just how long his citizens could last without any sugar in their bodies. 

With more and more mutants being added to the mix, he could foresee the Safety department’s role expanding dramatically to make sure that mutants that had special needs were also accommodated in the country. After all, how could he create the closest thing to a utopia if he could not accommodate the outliers?

____xx__

Once he was done with his shower, he flew around the island, surveying the lands below, noting the construction work happening with more and more people joining in, with some of the elderly people barking instructions at the obvious rookies, before heading to his office.

Even though it was far more efficient to just make everything with his powers, as it would ensure that no dust generating activity like trenching, digging, road laying, and more would be needed, people needed jobs, and as long as the quality of the work was fine, he was going to let them do it.

After all, the rules were clear. The punishment for corruption, subject to change based on the will of Mike, was life imprisonment. Depending on just how big his empire eventually became, he might even execute a few of them just to set an example every now and then.

But all that was for later, when he had legions of people taking care of everything he might need to do. Right now, he had a bunch of paperwork to go through and finish, unless he wanted to hand over whatever little power he had kept in his hands to the two mutant oldies.

He was lost in the paperwork, going through it when the door to his office opened up, revealing the smoking form of Logan, along with Jean Grey. Two people that Charles and Magneto had both recommended to him when he told them about his plans to train some of the people here to create a task force that would be answerable directly to him.

He could understand why Charles recommended Logan. Logan was basically programmed to take no bullshit from anyone and speak out loudly if he thought something was wrong, without giving a damn about anything else.

If Charles thought that he was going to create a secret black ops squad to do his dirty work, then he was wrong, but in case he was about to do that, Logan would be the best person to send to make sure the entire thing dies early on.

What confused him was Magneto recommending Jean. It surprised Charles as well, but there were no camps in this place anymore. No such thing as X-Men or the Brotherhood of mutants in Sanctuary I. So, there was no way Charles could object to Magneto recommending a citizen of his nation.

It was funny how Charles realised that and had to agree to Magneto’s suggestions, even though all his being was probably warning him to make sure Jean stayed as far away from Mike as possible.

It certainly explained the long practice sessions that Jean had to go through, exhausting most of her energy, which meant she was unable to participate in the defence of the island or take a more active part in the activities happening around.

He knew there was a reason why Charles was doing this and had planned to eventually confront the old man about it, only for Magneto to do the deed instead. Old amenities die hard, it would seem.

Magneto knew something shady was happening, and instead of talking to Charles about it, he just dropped a bomb, and unfortunately for Charles, he knew that he had no leg to stand on and had to stay silent.

“Sit down.” He gestured to the two chairs in front of him, and noted the wild differences in seating between the two of them. Logan was relaxed, almost lounging in the chair, and Jean was sitting upright, nervous but hiding it better than he would have expected her to, waiting for him to speak.

“So,” he began, “I assume you guys know what we are doing here?”

“Ain’t got a clue, bub.”

“No idea, sir.”

Nodding at the answers, he continued, “Essentially, we are going to be building a task force that will answer to me and me only. This will be separate from the other armed forces that will be created to serve under the council.”

“So, you want someone to do your dirty work for you?” 

He raised an eyebrow at Logan’s anger before speaking, “Why would I need to do that? I have no need for anyone. Even if I did need someone else to do something for me, I would ask GHidorah. It is far more competent than any one of you.”

“Then, why would you create something that will be answerable only to you? With my powers, I don’t think I will be comfortable working on something with no oversight.” Jean argued.

“The reasons are for me to know. Also, why would you think you would be working for me? I did not ask you two here to come work for me specially. No, I asked you two here to train the people who will work for me.”

Logan’s claws shot out of his hand as he growled, “You want Jean to mind control—”

“Nope.” He tapped a finger on the table and watched as Logan grunted, watching his claws slide back into his hand, against his will.

Man, extreme wind control was such a great thing, especially once it was amplified by real magic. Dark magic, sure, but it was still real magic.

“I want her to train people so that they don’t have a vulnerable mind. I want you to train them so they can fight. Interested?” He smiled at both of them. They exchanged glances and nodded, agreeing with his proposal. Not that they had any room for rejecting his proposal anyway.

This was a dictatorship, after all. It was just packaged way better, and the dictator had far better things to do than sit around and rule over a bunch of people instead of enjoying his own powers.

Basically, the dictator was not a sadistic bastard.

“Logan, you can go. Jean, you stay.” he gave a look to Logan when it looked like the mutant wanted to protest that.

Jean swallowed as he waited for Logan to leave. Once the door closed, he looked at Jean, but this time using his magical senses instead of his eyes.

And yup.

That was the Phoenix Force, alright.

No wonder his Night Lich self was roiling under his skin, being so close to Life itself, or the avatar of one, or something close to that.

Eighth Step of becoming King - Keep your natural counters close!