章 55: Election Day

In the UN building, today there was a huge crowd of people. The Earth Federation building which was being built on a neutral territory on a large island in the Pacific had not been completed yet so the inauguration of the Earth Federation along with the announcement of the first Chancellor of Earth was being organized in the UN building.

It made sense to do it in the UN building since the UN was a predecessor in many ways to the Earth Federation. It was rather poetic to build a better and greater organization on top of the foundations of the UN.

Dignitaries and representatives from all the member countries in the world were flocking in to witness the historic moment. With such a crowd of important people being gathered in a place, the security had to be top notch as well which meant a large crowd of security personnel as well.

If one were to look very close, they would find that among the well-dressed people walking around the venue, there were also superheroes blending into the crowd in suits and dresses. Heroes from the X-men, Avengers, Fantastic Four and others were all present and seemed vigilant about everything.

If there was any chance to disrupt the founding of Earth Federation, now was the time. This meant that all the organizations like Hydra which would be affected by the creation of a unified governing body for the Earth were probably planning something for the event on that day. Aware of this fact, the heroes were focused on identifying and neutralizing any threats.

Most of the heroes were, Tony Stark being Tony Stark was already inside the venue walking around the dignitaries with a glass of champagne in his hand. "What? I'm just posing with it. I wouldn't drink on such an important occasion. I'm just blending in to seem more natural." Tony replied with an excuse to the irritated Natasha.

"Drinking too much alcohol at your age might kill you, old man." Tony heard a familiar voice mock him and turned to look at the person who spoke.

"You're finally here! Where have you been, kid? We have been trying to contact you for a whole day now. We were contemplating using magic spell to find you if we didn't find you soon." Tony said with some irritation and grievance in his voice.

Savant looked at Tony Stark confusedly, "I was vacationing with my girlfriend around Africa. But what was so urgent that you had to use magic to find me?"

At Savant's question, Tony first looked around to see if anyone was listening in and then spoke when he finally made sure they weren't being eavesdropped. "Did you awaken mutant powers? Why can you affect people's brains to ignore your existence? Or did you get assisted by some magician?"

Looking at the curious Tony Stark firing off question after question, Savant smiled wryly. He instantly understood what might have happened. He wanted to spend private time as much as possible with Sage, so Savant wanted as few people as possible to disturb them while on this trip. This desire must have triggered his massive psychic abilities to interfere subtly with people's thoughts.

Normal people might not even notice it but other psychics and some heroes with great mental prowess could potentially see through the interference with some clues. Clearly the heroes had become aware of the problem and were looking for him to clarify the situation.

"You can think of it as a psychic interference magic. I just wanted to be able to enjoy my vacation in peace. But that doesn't explain why you were in a hurry to find me?" Savant didn't feel like giving a long explanation. He could tell that there were other heroes listening in on the conversation over the comms so he just shifted the subject.

"Yeah, about that, why are you supporting Doom so much? I know that the projects for the reactors built in Africa that you brought to me were a part of Doom's campaign. And you are even helping him with a super soldier serum. Why are you so keen on making Doom the Chancellor? Don't you know what Doom has done in the past?"

Tony spoke in a reprimanding voice subconsciously. It was like an elder teaching their junior a lesson on how they should behave. It would have been a very touching scene were it not for the teasing smile hanging on the lips of Savant.

"Tony, I have a simple question for you. Next time, if there is an invasion by aliens on Earth once again, who will stop it?"

Savant's question was abrupt and wasn't close to what they were talking about but Tony still answered the question to see what Savant was up to. "Of course we will stop it again. The avengers, fantastic four, X-men, all of us will fend off any invaders. In fact, I have been discussing with Hank Pym about creating a robot army controlled by a central AI. Like a defense system for Earth."

"Commendable efforts. And like you said, the heroes will be there to save the world every time there is a crisis. But, how will humanity progress then? If all the problems are solved by the handful of you, what are humans going to learn from? We can't become a civilization so fragile that when the protective layer of 'heroes' is removed we collapse on our own." Savant spoke in a serious tone.

Savant had made this argument many times but this was the first time all the heroes were listening in to these arguments. He was openly saying that the heroes were slowing down human progress and even crippling them to a certain extent. Some of the heroes wanted to argue but they couldn't just scream through the comms.

"What does any of that have to do with your support of Doom?" Tony wasn't swayed by Savant's words. He was still focused on what he wanted to know.

"It's simple. Doom is the best leader for humanity to develop and toughen up under to take the blows from the interstellar society. And he understands the difference between keeping his people safe and coddling them into a passive state. As a leader, I don't think you can find anyone more suitable than Victor von Doom for Earth's current needs." Savant gave some clues in his answer.

Tony shook his head and took a sip of champagne before speaking, "You speak as if there are civilizations out there in space waiting to get us. I'm sure we could have found a more suitable leader other than Doom."

Tony Stark wanted to say more but was interrupted by Savant. "I am pretty sure there are aliens ready to attack us at any time. We are already at war Tony, you just don't see it yet. But you will soon. Then maybe you will understand why Doom has to be the one leading Earth."

After speaking his mind, Savant just walked away from a stunned Tony without giving any more explanations. Other heroes were urging Tony to ask Savant what he meant by the war and the aliens but Savant was already gone and Tony was lost in thought. But because of Savant's words, the heroes were extra cautious for any anomalies.

The crowd of reporters, security personnel and representatives of different nations slowly disappeared into the large assembly hall which was packed to the brim with people. Cameras were everywhere, projecting the scenes from the UN headquarters to all over the world live on TV. Reporters were scrambling to get interviews of people and asking their opinions.

Amongst the hustle and bustle, the event formally started with different officials all giving speeches regarding the Earth federation. Some talked about what the organization meant for the present while others talked about their hopes for the future. It was a segment designed to inform the viewers and listeners all over the world about what Earth Federation was all about.

After the speeches were done, all the member country representatives in the full view of the world started walking into the voting booth one by one to cast their votes for the first chancellor of the Earth Federation. During the voting process almost everyone had a tense expression, anticipating who would win.

The candidates themselves however, seemed relaxed. Doom was sipping tea like this was all routine to him and Reed seemed to be focused on a device on his hand not even caring for the election process. The voting process ended very quickly and the tension in the room was growing palpable.

Finally, the UN secretary walked up to the podium to announce the results of the voting and the first Chancellor of the Earth Federation to the world. "It is my honor to announce something this historic to the entire world. I'm sure all of us are getting anxious with anticipation so I will get straight to the results. With 102 votes from the 198 member nations who voted, the first Chancellor of the Earth Federation is Mr. Reed Richards."

The announcement brought about cheers and applause in the audience. Although the public were in support of Doctor Doom, the rulers of most countries didn't want Doom having any power over them. Doom was just too competent and inflexible for their tastes. So a large majority of the nations who supported USA or their allies along with those who feared Doom came together to create the current results.

The cameras panned to Doom and Reed to get their reactions. Reed was smiling and getting congratulated by the people sitting around him. On the other hand, Doom was smiling too. But his smile seemed to be out of mockery. Anyone looking at the smile would feel insecure about themselves.

Some people who didn't know Doom thought that Doom might be in shock and not able to handle the loss. But those who knew Doom, especially the heroes were already on alert, waiting for something to happen. And by the looks of the smile on Doom's face, it was going to be something big.

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Stones. Stones. Stones. Stoooooneeeeeeees.