Capítulo 131: Technomancer in MCU #110
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Chapter 110
Technomancer in MCU
Royal Palace, Asgard
–Ed–
"So, I just had a long chat with Maria and she revealed an interesting fact to me. Care to listen, Alfred?" He asked Alfred who was busy doing who knows what on the literal hundreds of windows he had opened in front of him. Some of them showed progress on the city's infrastructure being built, some of them showed old obscure maps of the universe, and some of them showed magical symbols that he couldn't make heads or tails of.
The bottom line was that Alfred was very much busy and yet he had found through his talks with Maria that Alfred had been the person who was just as nervous as he was. Granted, a degree of concern was expected from someone who was the closest thing he had to a son in this universe but Alfred really liked to project this cool suave image of himself so he thought, maybe, he could come here and rib him a little bit, like he does to his "old man" even though he is not even in his 30s yet.
Damn, 30 and still hadn't even kissed a girl in this universe. Once he is healed up, maybe he should just advertise that fact to the world. Heaps of girls would just jump on the chance to date him. By then, he would be rich, handsome, powerful, and "gifted" in all the right places.
"What is it, Old man? Can't you see that I am a little busy here? Even for someone like me, balancing the careful act of maintaining the facade that everything is alright while also making sure that sufficient forces are stationed at every single one of our colonies is a huge task. It is not made easy by the fact that almost all of the top-tier combat prowess of our organisation are either going to be busy participating in the ritual or busy protecting the ritual room. The only available S-tier combatant who would be free and available for deployment would be Grand Priest Ajax and even then, we don't have enough skilled sorcerers who can open portals across the galaxy on demand. So, once again, what do you want?"
Alfred went on this huge ramble about his workload even though he knew that his brain was literally built to handle tasks thousands of times more complex than this. He could understand Alfred's dilemma, to be honest. They did have a surplus of technology and resources that would make handling any civilisation a piece of cake but what they didn't have were people strong and skilled enough to safely operate that technology. Alfred was going to cut himself off from everything when the ritual was taking place which meant the entirety of the organisation would have to run by themselves.
It was good that they had a trial run when Alfred gave them all a jump scare a while back when he went to make his body. The second part was that all of the strong people were going to be needed on Asgard to make sure that the ritual room was protected. In Alfred's words, "If this is not the time for overkill, I don't know what is," And he agreed with him.
But seeing the list of people who were going to be on Asgard for his protection would have made his teenage nerd self cry with joy and awe.
"I was just concerned about the fact that you seem to be concerned about the ritual, despite all the calculations you have no doubt done to be sure," He said to Alfred off-handedly, quite aware that he doesn't like that.
Alfred sighed, "Maria told you didn't she,"
"Yeah,"
"There is nothing to worry about. I mean, there is something to worry about but I don't think it will be so much of a problem that the entirety of our gathered forces will be unable to deal with,"
He caught on to Alfred's meaning immediately, "So you are positive that it is time for "it" to come out,"
"Very soon. The strain of the ritual would most probably release "it" from its prison,"
He nodded along, agreeing with Alfred's predictions. The reason they were bringing in so much outside help was for many reasons but the major one among them was Hela Odindottir, Goddess of Death.
Alfred had confided in him, under closed barriers, that it was a near certainty that Odin would weaken himself to such an extent, during the ritual, that the prison surrounding Hela would break apart with ease, unleashing the Goddess of Death once again onto the nine realms. Defeating Hela was very simple, at least in his eyes since he was aware of what Thor did to defeat her in the movies, but the complication arose when they had need of Asgard's ritual room since there was no other place in the entire known universe where they could field so much of their forces while also getting the best possible environment for the ritual.
No, it had to be on Asgard and it had to be done using the Infinity Stones. Stones that could not be wielded by many people on their side. Odin being one of the very few beings who can do so, cannot be excused from the ritual, and in doing so, if Odin weakened to the extent of making one of their bigger enemies appear in a place already armed to the teeth and ready to take out any threat with extreme prejudice, then nobody can blame them for that coincidence.
"Are we sure of your plan working against"it "?" He asked Alfred who looked annoyed at having his plans questioned by nearly everyone in the organisation. To be fair to them, it was a very unorthodox method but nearly everyone was sure that Alfred could not be wrong regarding this yet the uncertainty gnawed at them. Because Hela was someone who had a birthright connection to Asgard itself. A connection that was only temporarily severed by Odin. The connection would slot itself back into place once the prison surrounding Hela was broken and she stepped foot on Asgard. The very energies surrounding Asgard would empower her to such a degree that defeating the likes of Thor and Loki would be child's play for her. Once she was fully acclimated to being the Queen of Asgard, even someone like Thanos would undoubtedly struggle against her and even be eventually defeated, given that Hela was an Asgardian who was undoubtedly in her prime.
"Yes, I am sure. Well, as sure as I can be against someone of that caliber. Let's just say I have a 90% certainty," Alfred added in the end, not gaining any points on the certainty front.
"That's reassuring to hear. Certainly, better odds than anyone who has ever faced my daughter has ever said,'' Odin's voice sounded directly in their ears. He looked at Alfred who just looked annoyed that their conversation was being heard by Odin, despite all their protective measures. It would seem that as long as they were on Asgard, no amount of measures could keep them from the prying eyes of Odin All-Father.
He looked behind him, only to see no one.
"Meet me in my study," Was the only thing Odin's voice said to them before it became silent in the room.
"That old man has no sense of privacy, does he?" Alfred asked rhetorically before waving his hands, closing down all the windows that were opened by him. They were mostly for anybody who could walk in on him working because as far as he was concerned, Alfred could do that a thousand times over without even breaking stride.
"I don't think you would be required to sit in on that meeting. Why don't you go and check on the evacuation processes?" Alfred asked him uncharacteristically.
He was taken aback at that question. Why would Alfred not want him at that meeting even though he too heard Odin's voice and he was pretty sure that Odin did not make a mistake when he projected his voice across the palace? He was old but not that gone yet.
He was about to ask Alfred about it but his question was stuck in his mouth when he saw the very serious, nearly pleading look on Alfred's face. He closed his mouth and just nodded at that.
"Okay, then. I will see you later. I'll just go and check in on what Thor and Loki are doing." he said and walked out of the room as Alfred just turned intangible and started floating straight through the floors of the Royal Palace.
The thoughts of that meeting kept plaguing him until he exited the palace and headed straight toward the market centre where Thor and Loki were stationed to solve any problems that might arise during the evacuation process. The real evacuation was still hours away but the preparation for that was being done right now. He could see that he was also being followed by a bunch of guards ever since he had exited the palace. Must be done on Odin's or Frigga's orders which was good because his current body was barely stronger than an average human and he had a hunch that it was not going to be enough if there was a stampede-like situation. As he was now, even a teenage Asgardian could tear right through him.
A thought that made him pat himself on the back for coming up with the idea to create a floating city, especially in the North Pole. It gave the Asgardians the option to move to a better area once it became permanent but it also allowed them to be isolated from the regular squishy, non bulletproof humans.
"Ah, Ed! Welcome to Thor's Evacuation Preparation Centre!" Thor said to him in his usual booming voice.
"For the last time, we are not calling it that," Loki said to him snidely before focusing back on the woman who had brought some sort of luggage to him.
Thor ignored his brother without even a hint of his sunny smile fading, "What can I do for you, Ed? I don't think you have any luggage that is not packed, do you?"
He smiled and shook his head, "No, I don't want any help with my luggage. I just wanted to talk to you,"
"Oh, Just give me a moment. I'll be there with you in a second," He then put his hand on his face and mockingly whispered to him, "I am not actually needed here. I just came to give company to Loki. I am sure Loki will handle it just fine," Thor then turned around to presumably order some of the soldiers to man the station but before he could do that, he intervened.
"Actually, I wanted to talk to the Princes of Asgard, both of them," he said with a smile on his face, hoping that it didn't look suspicious to them.
Loki and Thor both looked at each other in confusion and then at him with suspicion. He kept his smile plastered on his face as is.
Loki looked at him deeply for a moment before nodding at Thor would immediately began ordering some soldiers to take their place on the station before gesturing for him to follow them. Thor took him through some twists and turns before they found themselves in front of a small lake with children either playing in the playground in the center of the lake or just frolicking away in the lake's pristine water, unaware of the dangers their country was about to be.
"Envious, isn't it?" He heard Loki speak as all of them sat on the stairs in front of the lake's entrance.
"Hmm?" He looked questioningly at Loki who looked somewhat sad as he looked at the children playing.
"Their blissful ignorance. It's envious to me how they can be so carefree, so unknowing of the dangers they live with. To be so free, to enjoy everything without any second thoughts," he did not expect Loki of all people to initiate the conversation with him.
"Aye, brother. I feel the same sometimes too but it is because of us that they can enjoy that childhood full of innocence and ignorance. A period of time before they are exposed to the ugliness of the world and how it changes and affects the world around them." Thor said.
"So, how goes the preparation for our new home in Midgard?" Loki asked him, using the word "home" inconspicuously in the conversation as if that was not a dead giveaway that he knew about their plan.
"Wh-what are you talking about, brother? We are only going to stay in that place for the duration of the ritual. After that, everything goes back to normal, right, right?!" Thor's smile faded as he looked at the solemn look on his face.
"I don't know, brother. Ask him. Ask him what would be the after-effects of the ritual, even if we did succeed, and why they have no doubt started building a permanent residence for all Asgardians on Midgard." Loki said as he looked right ahead.
Well, Damn.
Word Count - 2219
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