บท 56: Objection!

As if on cue, a loud tap on the mic and the screeching feedback from the speakers suddenly made the noisy hall quiet down a lot. People were murmuring and looking around for the source of the disturbance when a hand was raised that caught everyone's attention.

Tony Stark facepalmed and sighed, "What is he going to do this time?" Dr. Strange looked at the raised hand and squinted, "It must be something very stupid."

Benn Grimm chimed in as well, "I was expecting Doom to cause a scene. I didn't expect that the little Doom supporter would be the one to begin the drama."

While the heroes and the other participants were still murmuring and guessing, Savant's voice rang through the speakers, "I object to this marriage!" The absurd line somehow managed to turn the large hall silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry for that Honorable Secretary. Always wanted to say that but never got a chance. Anyway, what I mean is, I object to this voting process and the subsequent winning by Reed Richards."

The UN Secretary pinched his brows and answered from the podium, "The voting is already done Mr. Savant. It happened in a completely fair manner in front of everyone present. Besides, you are not even a representative from any nation so you can't legally make an objection here."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I failed to mention that my words are approved by the candidate Mr. Victor von Doom. So you can take my words as Dr. Doom's words." Savant said as he pointed at Doom who just gave a nod of approval.

"In that case, you are allowed to raise objections but there is a proper mechanism in place for that, you cannot just call it out in public like this." The UN Secretary spoke in a harsher tone this time.

"We will go through the official channels too. But there is nothing in the charter that says we can't voice out our concerns regarding the fairness and validity of this voting process in public. We just want to make sure the world understands our point of view." Savant calmly explained.

"And what is your point of view? Everything happened right in front of all of us. The voting happened through a machine which was inspected by both the candidates too. So where do your objections even come from?" The UN Secretary looked a bit annoyed and angry at this point.

Savant nodded, "Of course, there is no fault in a machine jointly tested by the two candidates. I am instead questioning the people who did the voting. They are the problems."

The veins on the UN Secretary's face were bulging in anger, he spoke through gritted teeth, "Are you accusing all the voters for being bribed? Or do you mean they were threatened? Why are you making up absurd theories instead of accepting a loss, Mr. Savant Smith?"

"I never said those words. Please don't put words in my mouth like that. I wouldn't say something so absurd at a place like this. Bribing and threatening the countries for votes is an actual tactic both sides have used. What I am talking about is the aliens getting involved in the voting process."

"Aliens, you say. We will certainly take your words into consideration." The UN Secretary began laughing along with most of the people present in the room.

Although the people were aware of the existence of aliens, they still found the idea very absurd and funny that aliens might be involved and even manipulating the results for the election of the Earth's Chancellor. They just couldn't believe a tinfoil hat theory like that.

But there were people who took the words of Savant seriously. Every representative of the countries openly supporting Doom were already talking to their security personnel to increase the security. The heroes were also starting to take out their scanning equipment and powers to check the entire venue for intruders.

"I know, I know. It sounds very funny doesn't it? I sound like one of those crazies on the streets shouting about the end of the world. How could there be aliens in this place? And even more, why would they want to affect the voting process when both the candidates are famously human? They are even peak examples of humans." Savant's speech quieted down the room gradually.

"Then we have a question, why is Savant who is known to be sane till now suddenly spouting nonsense? Did he catch some disease somewhere? Or is it that he couldn't handle the shock of being on the losing side? Or maybe he has only been acting sane this whole time? We may never know the answers to these questions. But what we know for a fact is that there are 28 Skrulls in this very room, isn't that right commander Gard?"

Savant suddenly turned to look at the UN Secretary when he asked the last question. The UN Secretary seemed flustered but he still questioned Savant, "What do you mean Mr. Savant Smith? What are you even talking about?"

Savant shook his head in disappointment. He then spoke into the mic again, "Ladies and Gentlemen. Please sit down silently in your seats for the next few minutes if you don't want to get hurt. It will be over very quickly. The stage is yours Doctor Doom."

Savant bowed to the audience and went back to his seat before handing the mic to Doom. Just as Savant reached his seat, a laser blaster hit his back suddenly but was stopped by a magic barrier. Everyone started to scream in panic and some were already prepared to run.

"Shut up and sit down." Doom's commanding voice left no choice but obedience as the room quieted down and everyone sat back down and looked around in fear at the UN Secretary who had just turned into a green alien. He was holding an alien weapon that looked like a gun which he had used to shoot at Savant.

"So what if you figured out our disguises? None of you are leaving this place alive. This will be the burial ground for all your world leaders. Today will mark the fall of your kind from the face of this planet. But don't worry, we will keep some of you as pets and slaves so you won't go extinct as a species." The Skrull Commander named Gard who was impersonating the UN Secretary began his monologue.

The heroes had already surrounded him from all sides. But Commander Gard of the Skrulls did not show any fear and kept the blaster pointed at Doom at all times. Ant-Man Scott asked a question as he joined in the encirclement of the alien. "Didn't Savant say something about there being 28 of his kind?"

The heroes suddenly started looking into the crowd behind them to spot the other aliens. Gard laughed at them, "You will never find all of us in time. You would be better off trying to run away. That way at least you will have a chance of survival."

Gard's voice over the speakers was making the rest of the attendees very nervous and scared. They wanted to run out of the room as soon as possible. They were just waiting for that one guy to start running before they would all stampede toward the doors.

But the voice of Doctor Doom sounded from the speakers again, "Are you talking about these bombs?" Doom waved hand and small balls that looked like alien technology floated from all over the hall and created a pile next to Doom. "They won't work anymore."

"Or do you mean those guys you stationed outside to pick off and kill any survivors from the blast who get out?" Doom continued while looking straight at the surprised face of Gard, "Yeah, I know about them too. I took care of them as well."

Commander Gard wanted to shout something on the mic but Doom cast a spell with a wave of his hand and muted Gard. "I have to admit, even for Doom it was a challenge to figure out your invasion at first. But once I know where to look and what to look for, you can't escape the hands of Doom."

Just as Doom's voice fell, dozens of men and women all over the hall fell to their knees and screamed in agony. Surprisingly, almost a dozen of those people were the representatives of different nations. Even more surprising was that two aides to the president of the US were also included in the people who had fallen to their knees.

While some of their collegaues were trying to help those people, Doom raised his hand and clenched a fist slowly. This action made the screams louder and the people who were kneeling earlier could not even take their heads off the floor. In severe pain, slowly all of these people started to change into the green aliens like Gard.

People who were trying to help them backed off as far as possible from them while the heroes were quick to get to all the aliens.

Doom mockingly asked Gard while walking up to the podium, "Is this all? All your plans have failed. What now?"

As Doom got closer to the podium, Gard tried using the blaster to shoot at him. But the magic barrier stopped all the blasts. Gard tried everything, including attacking Doom head-on in hand-to-hand combat but he was easily kicked away by Doom back to the podium.

Doom continued his slow walk to the podium while Gard didn't even stand up. He was panting heavily on all four limbs but every time he tried standing up, his legs would shake too much to be able to keep him standing.

Doom reached the podium and looked at the sunken part of the stage where Gard was panting, he waved his hand and Gard was sucked into Doom's hands. Doom held Gard by the neck and looked at the crowd intensely before declaring, "This is why you need me to lead you."

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Just get me the stones. Throw them out here already. I'm ready with my hat to collect it all.