Bab 134: Technomancer in MCU #113
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Chapter 113
Technomancer in MCU
Guest Wing, Royal Palace, Asgard
–Ed–
"So, how do you feel?"
"Ahh," Toby groaned as he sat in the medical bed, trying to drink a concoction that looked hideous to him. For one thing, it had moving tails in it and was giving off dark miasma. He made sure to stay away from that thing at all costs. Who knows how it might infect him?
"This is so sickening. If any of my commanders from the demon world saw me, they would instantly rebel and kill me for my weakness." Toby Mathers, legitimately, whined in front of him, cribbing about his weakness.
Yet, he never blamed him, the primary cause of his weakness. The strain of holding his soul in the material world was finally getting to him now and yet they were still a ways away from finalising the ritual. It might take a day or two to prepare for everything but they still could not get an exact timeline for it because even a single thing going wrong might spell doom for Asgard and hurt some of his closest friends and allies.
"Why did your soul have to be so goddamned heavy? I swear it's like carrying a celestial on my back." Toby muttered under the miasma of darkness that wafted around him, courtesy of a spell Alfred had inscribed onto the standard-issue Asgardian hospital bed.
"Can't help it, buddy. I was the one who had chosen the more intellectual powerset, remember?" He grinned back at his friend, trying to hide the pit of anxiety that had settled in his stomach. He just couldn't stop imagining the worst-case scenario. They shouldn't even be trying to heal him. In fact, now that they had Odin in their debt, they should have just turned around and cashed in that favour by asking him to unite all his forces with their existing ones and just go on a crusade across the galaxy, ending Thanos, his forces and fear in one fell swoop and yet...
Yet here they were, risking the existence of Asgard, the well-being of some of the strongest fighters of their organisation, risking their entire mid to high-end combat forces by forcing Hela to stay away from the ritual room while the highest-end forces would protect him and the others from her trying to disrupt the ritual. It would be disastrous if even a little of her necrotic energy managed to contaminate the ritual, especially since the entire focus of the ritual was "life-giving".
"Oh, yeah, and look where it has brought us. Never should have let you think with your brain. You should have just thought with your dick, like I did. I mean, have you even lost your virginity yet?" Toby asked him, his face hidden in the dark miasma.
His mouth twitched as he replied, "I refuse to answer such an uncouth question. Have some manners. You are centuries old by this point,"
Toby immediately dispelled the dark miasma and looked incredulously at him, "Wait, you are still a virgin?"
He simply deadpanned at Toby, refusing to answer that question. In his defense, he had more important stuff to do, than bang some unknown girl, like saving the world, for example.
"Oh my god! You are. You are totally a virgin. What are we even doing all this then? We are risking your life even before you have had the most important experience that any man can have. This is utterly ridiculous. What if you die a virgin?" Toby asked him with the most fake, exaggerated horror-filled look he could make.
"I was busy, OK?" He said in between the loud laughter, "You know what? I don't have to sit here and take this from you. I have way more important people to check up on and certainly, more important things to do than listen to some jacked-up dude lecturing me about girls," He said before standing up and heading for the door.
He could hear Toby's fake laughter subsiding at his abrupt leaving but before he could hear what Toby had to say, both of them heard a loud gong that reverberated throughout Asgard. The sound was of such intensity that even he, in his puppet body, could feel it travelling through his entire body.
"What the hell?" Toby muttered but he ignored him and rushed directly to the balcony of their room. Outside was a scene straight from a fantasy movie. The entirety of the city had begun moving, as far as he could see. Statues that he thought were just ridiculous golden ornaments began sliding from their places, revealing underground hangars, from which dozens of small ships began to emerge, followed by one or two large ones.
All over the city, he could see people shutting everything down followed by more and more military soldiers and ships to get out from their hiding places, revealing a sizable army that was most probably capable of easily destroying any nation back on Earth. The Observatory on the edge of the Rainbow Bridge, also began opening up. He could see the telltale signs of it activating as it began shimmering with a white light.
"My sons!" He looked to the right as the booming voice of Odin was heard. He was dressed in his royal armoured garb as he floated right above the gathering area in front of the Palace. Right at his command, the air was filled with the smell of ozone as lightning cracked in the sky above them, heralding the arrival of Thor. He heard the sound of Mjolnir cutting through the air before he saw Thor heading straight to the Palace, crashing right in front of the soldiers, slightly cratering that area. It would have been a lot bigger had it been on Earth.
Loki appeared to the side of Thor in a dark greenish mist. Huh, it seemed Loki had learned a lot more skills ever since their previous encounter back on Earth.
"All-Father" Loki and Thor said at the same time, bowing at their waists as Odin looked at the gathered soldiers with a domineering look.
"Oh, that Loki is quite skilled with manipulating the threads of energy," Toby muttered who was standing by his side on a crutch made of darkness. It was quite funny if you knew how scary the person could be when he was not on bed rest.
"He is quite different from the person he was in your memories, is he not?" Toby said and the only answer he could give to him was a nod.
Both of them watched as the army continued to pour out over all the areas of Asgard, eventually blotting out the sky above the Royal Palace. He could spy Frigga and Alfred standing on the stairs below Odin, looking at him solemnly. Alfred must have known about the situation and yet he had not contacted him or Toby immediately. Something must have gone…wrong.
Oh.
The bond connecting him and Alfred was something that was only made possible due to the connection routing itself through Toby and now that he was basically incapacitated, the connection was severed and Alfred must have not wanted to risk anything by overtly sending him a message through a spell.
"My soldiers, today, there was an attack on one of the oldest allies of Asgard, Nidavellir."
His body jolted in alarm at that sentence. Of course, how could he have forgotten?
Nidavellir. The homeworld of Dwarves, the best weaponsmiths of the galaxy. The ones that forged treasures like Mjolnir, Gungnir, and more. He swore he had written it down somewhere that one of the more convenient ways of delaying Thanos' agenda was to prevent him from making the Infinity Gauntlet in the first place. That gauntlet was the only reason someone like Thanos was able to wield all six of the stones without turning into dust immediately. Remove the Dwarves from the equation and Thanos is suddenly left with no means of using the stones even if he did somehow manage to gather them. He was sure he had written that down somewhere in Alfred's code as part of the many contingencies he had thought of and yet..
Yet, he had forgotten. Alfred had forgotten which was supposed to be impossible.
Something was wrong. He could also see that something was wrong with Alfred as well. He was leaning on the pillar right next to the stairs. He could not see what was going on from so far away but something was seriously wrong for Alfred of all people to forget something he had hardcoded in him even before his birth.
"It's runes." His gaze snapped to Toby who said that in a somber tone. "Runes are branded right into his skin, from his arms right to his forehead. Honestly, why would he even do that? Even he would not be able to stop that kind of pain."
Runes? Branded on his forehead?
Before he could voice out his question, he heard Odin speaking again.
"My sons, Thanos has fled the scene like the coward that he is. I want you to go to Nidavellir and defend it from the pirates that have no doubt begun vulturing on the remains. I want you to escort my friend Eitri from there to here. Have no doubt, we will avenge him."
"Yes, Father," Loki and Thor bowed and turned to the soldiers who had gathered behind them.
"For Asgard!" Thor roared as he raised Mjolnir to the sky, making lightning slam right onto his arm, lighting up the entire court.
"For Asgard!"
"For Asgard!"
"For Asgard!"
"For Asgard!"
He heard a low whining sound so he looked at the Rainbow Bridge only to see the Observatory pointing the sharp end of it straight to the ships gathered above the palace. His mouth then hung open as the Observatory shot a ray of rainbow-coloured energy, striking right at the assembled army, teleporting them directly to Nidavellir.
So, this was how they transported large armies directly to their destination. There was no way they were going to have people leave QAsgard one by one through the small tunnel in the Observatory.
Soon, the only people left in front of the palace were the King's guards along with Frigga, Alfred, and Odin himself.
'We have a lot to discuss, Singularity,' he froze as he heard Odin's voice right into his mind. He looked at Odin who was looking straight at him and then nodded slowly. He hoped that nothing bad had happened yet looking at Alfred, who looked so weak that his enhanced body couldn't even keep itself upright even after having those advanced arc reactors that he had embedded in his body as a backup, was telling enough of the situation.
"What did he say?" Toby asked him even as they both went back inside the room, him on his own and Toby on his conjured crutches.
"Nothing. He said that he wanted to talk. Look, you should rest up for the big day ahead. I will see what he wants and we will talk later in the evening," He said to Toby before bailing right out of the room, unheeding of Toby's shouts. He would be unable to follow him to the meeting anyway.
Just what had happened to Alfred that he had to resort to branding himself with those runes? Even he knew how painful that could be and Toby said that he did that to himself on his entire body?
Word Count - 1931
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