章 32: Making moves
Thanos without the four infinity stones was already a powerhouse, but with those four stones, he was nigh unstoppable for the Chitauri fleet. So, Thanos' ship sanctuary conquered the Chitauri homeworld very easily.
Although he solved his problems using force most of the time, Thanos was very smart. He knew that if he wanted these guys to fight for himself then he would have to persuade them using something other than his fists.
And this is where his infamous reputation came to work. Thanos was known in the interstellar society as a mad terrorist who massacres people en masse. His recent exploits were not numbered by counting the individual deaths but entire planets instead.
So, this was a worthy ruler in the eyes of the Chitauri civilization who claim to be the immune system of the universe. What they want is to bring death, just like Thanos. It was just that their goals were similar but not the same.
For Thanos, he enjoyed bringing death and destruction to the universe. But his main purpose was to get Mistress Death's attention. But for the Chitauri, they wanted to wipe out any sentient life in the universe because sentient life with free will causes destruction and chaos.
The Chitauri weren't always the war-hungry locust type creatures that left death wherever they went. They were once a civilization that had reached great heights. Although they couldn't compare to the likes of the Skrull and the Kree, the Chitauri were doing well for themselves.
As civilizations progress further, there are always opportunities for it to 'ascend'. This ascension is a form of increasing their life order by some means. Becoming a completely mechanical civilization, going the route of biological enhancement, and uploading the consciousness to a machine are just some of the ascension methods.
For the Chitauri, their civilization had evolved from an organism that was similar to the insects on Earth. They had the Queen, those under her, soldiers, workers and such. It wasn't exactly the same but very similar in nature.
So, they chose the hive mind method where all of their minds were interconnected and followed the orders of their superiors unconditionally. And that chain of command went up to the Queen, the ruler of the Chitauri.
They weren't exactly mindless drones but they had to follow the orders without question. The hive mind increased their efficiency sharply and their civilization continued to thrive until as it happens in most cases, love fucked it all up.
The Chitauri, despite their efficient hive mind had not placed any controls over their people's emotions or thoughts. They could have their own lives and live as they wanted. But as newer generations kept being born, some of them started questioning things.
Why should they have to obey every order unconditionally? Shouldn't they have their own will to refuse? Why can't I be the one giving the orders?
These questions then bred a rebellion. Due to the fact that all their minds were connected, the rebellion was not making any strides. It was quite easy to find out the rebellious ones and punish them. But in an interstellar civilization, there are always geniuses and technologies they can develop to block minds.
The punishments after the rebels were caught started light. They started first with imprisonment and thought guidance which, for the rebels, was basically a formal way of describing brainwashing. And this further added the fuel to the rebellion's fire. How could their wills be modified like that?
And so, an interstellar civilization slowly started to break down from the inside with the punishments getting progressively harsher, and with that the rebellion getting stronger.
The civil war was underway and death penalties and public executions were starting to be issued all over the place. The rebels were starting to lose ground and it looked like things were going to settle down soon. But then a very high ranking general found out that his children were mixed in with the rebellion.
He had two choices, either execute his kids or become a traitor. This wasn't exactly a new situation. It had happened countless times at all levels in the ongoing civil war. And every time, those people followed the order to execute their loved ones. This time however, it didn't happen.
The general, with his own will overcame the order to execute his children and used his authority to bomb the Queen's ship instead to break free from her control and escape. This was the straw that broke the camel's back.
The queen was enraged. And in her rage, she did what her predecessors never did, she took control of all the Chitauri population effectively robbing them of their free will. All independent thoughts were purged from the civilization. They were now a true hive mind.
But this also halted all progress for the civilization. The reason why the Chitauri queens of the past never took away the free will of their subjects was simple. When there is no independent thought, there is no creativity, new ideas, clash of opinions, and thus no progress. Civilization was thus frozen in time.
What was even worse was that, due to the influence of the Queen's anger and obsession against the free will of her subjects that caused all the destruction, the hive mind determined its new purpose to rid of all chaos from the universe by killing all sentient life capable of free will.
The Chitauri thus became a large interstellar civilization of genetically modified and tech enhanced monsters feared like the locusts that they were. Large galactic civilizations or those with extraordinary army could still beat away the Chitauri but for civilizations that were just stepping their foot in the interstellar society, Chitauri were an existential threat.
For Earth, if the superheroes and beings like the mutants didn't exist, facing the full might of a Chitauri fleet would be considered an extinction event. And now, Thanos was prepared to set these locusts loose on Earth.
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Thanos was sitting on his throne in his ship, the Sanctuary, and watching the Chitauri prepare their ships and their armies. His four generals were behind him kneeling, waiting for the orders to be dispatched on their glorious missions.
In this solemn atmosphere, a small flame bloomed into a pillar of hellfire next to Thanos and the devil Mephisto iself walked out of it. Thanos just calmly observed this situation but his four subordinates were already in fighting stances, ready to protect their liege.
Thanos raised his hand to stop his subordinates while still lazily sitting on his throne, one of his hands resting on his giant cleaver of a sword resting on the side of the throne. Mephisto looked at the scene and smiled his signature sly smile.
You never knew whether Mephisto found something genuinely funny or he was just mocking you with that smile. But more often than not, the answer is both of them at once. Turning to look outside in the vast space where ships were preparing to set off, Mephisto spoke first.
"I see that you are preparing to fight a galactic war."
Thanos replied in his gruff, indifferent voice, "Spare me your sarcasm demon. You and I both know Earth is a dangerous place. More importantly, why are you here? Was our arrangement not clear? You are supposed to be at Asgard right now."
"No, our arrangement was for me to make sure Asgard, or specifically Odin would not be able to participate when you attack Earth. And I have made arrangements to that effect. Now, I'll accompany you in your conquest." Mephisto, as always, had his own understanding of the agreements he made.
"What arrangements have you made? How can you be so sure they will stop Odin and Asgard?" Thanos inquired. He couldn't just trust Mephisto's words.
"I loosened the seal on his beloved daughter's prison, which should occupy him for a while. In the meantime, someone might have told the Ice Giants about the absence of Asgard's God-king at the moment. So when Odin eventually returns, he will have an invasion to fight off." Mephisto grinned in a way that'd give human children nightmares for life.
Thanos nodded, he didn't need to question the demon's ability to conspire and create conflict. He was particularly known for those things. Although Mephisto was very powerful inside his own dimension, when he was out of it, the demon was significantly weaker. So it fought as little as possible.
Thanos turned around to look at his generals, commonly referred to as the Black Oder of Thanos.
"You will all be vanguards in attacking the planet. Spread out the attacks so that their forces are thinned out. As for the four of you, you will attack the places where the two stones are stored. If you find it impossible to take the stones your objective will change to causing as much death and destruction as you can."
Mephisto chuckled on the side, "Looks like it is going to be a feast this time. The last time I went to Earth for a feast, that geezer of a sorcerer locked my clone up for years. I'll have to show him some courtesy in return as well."
Thanos didn't care about Mephisto's remarks. He would deal with the demon when he had all the stones. For now, he ordered the fleet to set off.
In the lead was Thanos' own battleship, The Sanctuary. Following it were thousands upon thousands of large and small ships that were all sailing in the same direction, Earth.
All the civilizations in Milky Way and nearby galaxies that were on the path were either already starting evacuation or increasing their security and dispatching fleets in a hurry. The mad Titan was out on a hunt and this time he had brought out an army of Chitauri with him. No matter who the target was would be running out of luck very soon.
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Author here, I have added my own background stories and history for the Chitauri to give them more depth than just some Zerg like monsters. Let me know what you think of it.
Also, moree stonessss.
To read ahead, get on patreon.
patreon.com/pytewriter
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