Technomancer in MCU #38

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Chapter 38

Technomancer in MCU

Previously

After me, of course. I still believed in the supremacy of well-built technology against raw brute force.

The Hulk would disagree but he was not here so I can count this as my win.

“Alfred, let's go meet Blackagar Boltagon, shall we? Inform Daisy to meet us in the hangar in an hour.”

“Affirmative, sir.”

_________________________________________________________

Main Hangar, Asterisk

–Daisy “Quake” Johnson–

BEEP! BEEP!

My eyes snapped open as I woke up instantly at the sound of the alarm.

Today was a very special day.

I was finally going on a mission without a commander.

And that too with the Big Boss!

Oh, my teammates are going to be so jealous when they hear about this.

Suck on that, Yo-Yo.

Hurriedly getting ready, I made it to the Main Hangar an hour before schedule.

As is the case most of the time, the Hangar is a hub of activity.

Multiple jets landing and taking off at the same time.

I could spot a few aircraft carriers docking at their stations, probably for periodic docking procedures.

I heard it in one of the boring lectures compiled by Alfred that our aircraft carriers are basically floating cities and can go years and maybe even decades without stopping for maintenance but Alfred, paranoid bastard that he is, insists on doing quarterly maintenance to make sure all of our forces are at 100% and ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.

I smile and wave at the technicians and pilots who previously wouldn't have spared me a glance but now, greet me with all the respect.

It was all due to the badge.

Being in Frank Castle’s personal hit squad is a feat that is almost impossible to achieve.

Being publicly acknowledged for that position is a reward all on its own.

A grouchy voice speaks into my ears, “No need to be so smug. I have already informed Frank of your tardiness regarding the morning training and he has assured me of the quote, “Taking care of your lazy ass, unquote.”

And just like that, the smile was wiped off of my face.

“You just can’t see me happy, can you?” I grumbled to myself, stomping towards the designated jet we were going to take for today’s mission.

The comms were suspiciously silent after that.

Come to think of it, even the Hangar had gone completely silent.

I have never even heard of that happening.

Turning around to investigate the cause, I came face to face with the Big Boss.

“Ah!”, I shrieked and jumped back, creating distance between us.

He only looked at me with a smug smirk.

I became all red, embarrassed at the fact that he was able to sneak up on me so easily, despite that being the first lesson Frank grilled in us for a whole month.

Oh man, I was so dead when I came back from this mission.

Regaining my bearings, I took a deep breath to calm down and after clearing my throat, I saluted him and said, “Special Agent Johnson, reporting for duty, Sir!”

_________________________________________________________

–Ed–

As I looked upon the red-faced, clearly flustered form of one Daisy Johnson, I could only shake my head in amusement.

It was a far cry from the combat recordings I saw on the way here. Far from being the badass that her team members described her as.

Ah, she was still saluting me.

I remember telling Alfred to issue an organisation-wide notice that strictly prohibited that.

I guess, he forgot.

I chuckle at her situation and tell her, “Please, we don’t do that here. I believe there is a notice for that somewhere in the common notices section on your user terminal. I don’t like being saluted to. I am actually not much older than you are, so I would prefer if you simply called me Ed.”

She gasped at that, clearly surprised at my forthcoming attitude.

I wonder what my image is among the members of the community with whom I do not interact on a regular basis.

“I can not possibly do that, sir. The best I can do is call you sir,” she replied to my request.

I deadpanned at her answer.

She stared right back at me and refused to budge on the issue.

Ah, so she does have some spine.

Then again, you have to when you work directly under Frank Castle.

His team consists of primarily enhanced people and from all the testimonies I see of his recommended team members, I can clearly make out a common pattern.

Extreme fear of Frank Castle.

Fear of a man who is by all means a certified badass and yet just that, a baseline badass.

Trained to the peak of human limits but still very much within human limits.

Then again, his powers help him level the playing field when it comes to enhanced people.

And when you are on the same level as him, he absolutely demolishes you, not leaving you with any will to retaliate against him even when you gain your powers back.

His powers were a huge surprise.

Frankly, I was surprised that he even had an Inhuman gene and even more surprised when he took up Alfred’s offer to undergo terrigenesis.

I was against it as I didn’t want my top team leader to get a defective power and lose his current combat prowess, but he was adamant.

Now, I am glad he did so.

He came out with the powers of complete power negation.

It didn’t enhance his physical capabilities in any way but damn did it increase his threat level.

He can, in theory, depower the Hulk, if he was pushed to his limit.

That is a dangerous powerset.

Alfred also found an unintended positive effect of his powers.

The longer an enhanced person remains under his field of influence, the stronger their powers become.

That's half the reason he trains any member under him without their powers.

The other half is that he is a sadistic bastard who would stop at nothing to shape up the people under him to prepare them for the grim realities of the world.

“So” Daisy’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts, “Shall we?”, she said while gesturing to the jet behind her.

Right, that was the standard issue jet for me.

Fortified to the nine hells and filled to the gills with any and all advanced tech that Alfred could cram into.

And with him, you could never tell how much of it is in the jet.

A perfectly fine jet but I had other plans for today.

“No, change of plans,” I replied to her.

At her quizzical look, I gestured behind me, to the two hoverboards being brought by one of the technicians, Sam, was his name.

Standing steadily on one of them, I thanked Sam and said to her, “We are going to be taking these.”

Her eyes shot wide open as she pointed at those, “Please tell me you are not serious?”

My only answer to that question was a mischievous smile.

_________________________________________________________

The Royal Palace, Attilan

–Medusalith Amaquelin–

Seeing the reports sent by Maximus, my stress levels broke all of their limits.

He wants to kidnap the Avengers using Lockjaw and then have Black Bolt kill them.

I reject them but keep them to show to my foolish husband who still believes that Maximus is just a little “lost” and not absolutely hell-bent on destroying Attilan as it is, starting with his own brother.

He cannot speak without destroying the very surroundings but he is somehow blind to his brother’s jealousy over his powers and his throne.

Someday, he is going to slip and I will be there to watch him get executed for betraying Attilan.

If only the elders on the genetic council came to their senses and stopped going along with his hair-brained schemes.

Just as I was about to turn in for the day, as the humans on earth like to call it, somebody came rushing through the door.

It was one of the palace guards.

Already in a foul mood from Maximus’ antiques, I asked him coldly, “What is it? You better have a good reason for your breach of decorum?”

The guard seized up, clearly terrified of me but managed to squeeze out, “Your Majesty, there is an intruder at our gates. He was flagged by the system as a priority RED. We were to contact the highest authority for that but His Majesty was unavailable and you were the next highest authority.”

I was already up and rushing towards the exit as soon as I heard his words about the RED protocol.

It was a series of protocols made recently that only had a few members in it.

The members of the Avengers were in it and so was Ed. The true powerhouses of the planet Earth who could threaten and/or destroy Attilan on their lonesome.

As soon as I was out of my office, I called out, “Lockjaw.”

Lockjaw appeared and as soon as he did, I touched his head and with our limited telepathic connection, he understood the destination and we disappeared from my office with a bright flash of white light.

We appeared inside the main barrier control room.

Immediately, I heard the commander rush towards me and speak in a quite flustered manner, “Y-Your Majesty!” and then he bowed to me.

In this urgent situation!

“Speak! What is happening”

He stood up properly and gestured towards the screen at the center of the console and said,” Just a few minutes ago, during one of our routine scans of our surroundings, we found two small objects headed right towards us.”

“That sent an alarm right up the chain towards me. Then I ordered a focused scan of their rough location and this image came up.”

The screen showed a photograph, confirming my worst fears.

I immediately rounded on to Lockjaw and said, “Lockjaw, go and take Crystal to the bunker and then bring my husband here.”

Lockjaw woofed and disappeared.

I seriously hope that this does not turn into a hostile situation. If it did, I don’t think our species will be able to survive after today.

The screen showed two individuals riding one of those hoverboards I had seen on the shows frequently watched by Crystal. One of them was Ed and the other woman was an unidentified variable.

Still, the fact that she came with Ed makes her a dangerous person by default.

“Is there a live feed?” I asked the commander.

He nodded and ordered one of the juniors to show the feed.

The live feed soon started on the screens, probably through a drone that followed them.

“Can we communicate through these?” I asked him.

By this point, they were barely a few minutes away from being visible through the barriers surrounding Attilan.

He soon handed me a mike and I immediately spoke through it, “HALT! You are intruding on Attilan’s sovereign soil. Please return. Attilan has closed its borders for now.”

Hope blossomed in my heart as the live feed showed both of them stopping and the woman discussing something with Ed.

He made a pondering face but after a while, looked directly at the camera.

My heart nearly leaped out of my throat at that and I looked around to find my powers had activated involuntarily, turning my hair into an assortment of deadly weapons.

Ed then mouthed “No” towards the camera and then continued on his journey towards us. I could see the woman trying to persuade him but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Eventually, even she gave up and rode alongside him, passing the illusion boundary layer of Attilan.

Just as I was about to plead again, my husband appeared in the room with a flash of light, accompanied by Lockjaw and Karnak.

They must have been in the middle of a spar, as I could see a thin sheen of sweat on Karnak’s face.

I hurriedly clasped hands with him, conveying all the information I had regarding the situation to him through our limited telepathic connection.

Usually, I am only able to get feelings or short bursts of Positives or negatives on the matter at hand but with physical contact, I was able to supercharge our bond for a short time to get all the information across to him so he could make an informed decision.

Understanding soon filled his face as he got the gist of the situation.

He then signalled Kornak and Lockjaw to empty the room and clear the path to the entry gates.

I held his hand and asked him, “Are you sure? We discussed this possibility but this is too soon. We are not prepared enough.”

He simply smiled and held my face, stopping me in my tirade.

Seeing his confident smile, I stopped worrying, “Very well. Whatever you do, I will be here with you.”

He smiled and walked towards the entry gate.

The entire area was in the process of being evacuated and by the time we reached the gates, it was completely void of any people besides us both.

Lockjaw and Karnak soon appeared behind us, a silent show of their support for us.

I heard a slight whining sound behind me and turned around to see the obnoxious face of Maximus flying here.

Before I could talk to him though, Black Bolt signalled to Karnak and Lockjaw.

Shock and confusion were reflected in their demeanours but next they nodded at each other and moved.

The next scene left my mouth agape.

Lockjaw teleported next to Maximus and kicked him in the back, sending him flying off the hoverboard.

He was sent flying right into the kick of Karnak, knocking him out in a single move.

Lockjaw then teleported his unconscious body somewhere and returned right next to me.

Blown out of my mind at the spectacle, I turn to my husband for an explanation.

He seemed to predict my question as he smiled and raised his hands to sign to me when we both heard an unfamiliar voice.

A voice that raised dread in me.

Both of us simultaneously looked towards the voice, originating from inside the barrier of Attilan, and found ourselves facing Ed.

And the woman with him, who was looking at Ed with an annoyed face.

“Seems like one hell of a welcome party, King Black Bolt. Gotta say, seeing Maximus getting his teeth knocked out was a great welcome present. My impression of you has risen by a notch.”

He then cheered towards us by raising his glass, which he brought out of nowhere?

My husband stepped forward to greet him and I hurriedly followed him to help him communicate with Ed.

As soon as Black Bolt was about to signal something, Ed raised his hands and tossed something towards us.

I activated my powers and I could feel Karnak and Lockjaw all tensed, ready to move at a moment's notice at the perceived threat.

But Ed just raised his hands in mock surrender and gestured towards the small ball? And said, “Relax! It is just an advanced translation device. It will help your King speak.”

Before I could voice my disapproval for that, my husband picked it right out of the air and hesitantly, uttered his first word in years.

“HELLO”

I shielded my eyes in preparation for the absolute destruction that would follow when my husband uttered anything but found myself looking at Ed’s grinning face.

He wiggled his eyebrows up and down and said to a clearly surprised Black Bolt, “Told you!”

I was not going to like Ed, I was certain of that much.

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Word Count - 2636