Providence
October 13, 7:35
Things like this made me question whether Kent and Nabu had gotten their collective shits rocked when they said my actions and the moves I made tipped the scales in Order's favor.
Because while people were still processing the fact their world, their lives, could be split at any freaking time, that a majority of the casualties resulting from the tragedy were prepubescent children, and the sudden medical breakthroughs that had left big pharma and other medical companies scrambling, I launched a hidden crusade that sent shockwaves through every governing body in every country.
I essentially injected more chaos into the chaos.
What else could you describe showing damning evidence that incriminated every single person present at a fundraiser or important meeting at a meeting of dignitaries. And not just showing, but sending it to every single pertinent person and alerting the authorities.
Let's not even talk about the police and other law enforcement agencies. Moles and double agents were immediately arrested upon turning in to work, their safehouses and real loyalties exposed.
There was so much filth, so much nastiness everywhere, even in the crevices you wouldn't expect. These ones were the places and cases my agents were sent after.
With the kind of training they'd received and the kind of generosity I showed them with regards to technology, any and all engagements lasted less than twenty minutes.
Every squad, be they newbies or the STRIKE team cleared out every hellhole in record time, saved those that could be saved and returned each to their home or predesignated locations on the island with efficient ease.
The sheer number of cases to address made me rethink my hiring goal. Initially, I'd wanted SHIELD to have two hundred able bodied agents by the end of the year, all at level 7.
We'd reached that number already, that's why my recruitment as of late focused on superpowered people. Though Kate Kane didn't fit that bill.
She was a baseline human and sadly, not ready to enter the Black Widow program yet. She was still enrolled in a military academy and would only graduate in a year, two years tops.
Back to Shield, the rest of the year was supposed to get the two hundred agents, excluding the STRIKE team, to level 7. I'd designed the hierarchy of agents based on what I recalled from the MCU.
At any point in time, Shield would only have one level 10 agent: me. Same went for level 9, the deputy director, a position I'd give to Lyla in a few years once she'd gone up the ranks.
Things changed at level 8. This step of the ladder could be occupied by multiple agents. These were seasoned, experienced, and above all, trusted agents that could do what I was doing now; draft and issue missions with their own authority.
Level 7s were the specialists. Able to thrive in any environment and tackle any mission no matter the difficulty single handedly. Simply put, they could operate as vigilantes and superheroes on par with the Justice League's unpowered members.
Level 6s and 5s sorta fell into the same category. Ex military or law enforcement with one or two specialties, but not enough to make them specialists.
There were improvements to be made to this tier system, especially when you considered that SHIELD consisted of more than fighters. But that was something for later.
Now, I was mainly observing the progress of the teams I'd sent out, doing extensive background checks on dozens of potential recruits, and picking up the slack of the analyst team doing their utmost best to cover the tracks of their fellow members on the ground, all at the same time.
So far no one had been able to make out or identify the parties responsible for the upheavals. And it would stay that way. By hook or crook.
I'd been iffy about adding covert operations to the list of SHIELD's specialties. Mainly because I didn't think I had the right to and also fear, at playing judge, jury, and executioner.
Needless to say, these sentiments had become dogwater. People needed help, and others needed to face justice, be it in a court or in the form of a bullet. Nuff said.
Previously, I'd have been swamped to the gills with the sheer amount of work that needed to be done. That again brought to mind the expansion of SHIELD, but currently I was enough.
In addition to keeping an eye on things, I kept contacting more and more care providers, NGOs and various foundations, giving them a brief rundown of things and opening Hush Tubes that sent those that agreed to the rapidly expanding camp of victims on Providence.
There, I also commandeered an army of robots to set up structures, ferry resources to the location and maintain general order. Meanwhile, I also communicated with the team, directing them to places that could use their attention.
As for the Justice League… they'd come to sort of know to pin me as the culprit for such things. Some of them were rushing to put out "fires" that were already under control and others wanted to find me and get me to stop.
I'd already given the agents orders on how to respond to the Leaguers. That's how the few encounters that had already occurred left no one dead, captured or even injured.
Arms crossed behind my back in the command room, I shifted my gaze between the mess of holograms at a rapid pace, keeping a tight watch over everything. Some of the League members had taken a Zeta tube straight to the island in search of me.
I messed up their travel, doing nothing malicious but rather sending the ones I had no interest listening to to places all over the country where they were more needed.
Unclasping my hands from behind me, I turned left and walked straight into the Hush Tube waiting for me, coming out right before the trio of League members I allowed to reach the island.
I raised a hand to silence them upon arrival. "Before you ask, know that I will deny any knowledge of what's happening. Don't worry about the others, I just sent them away. You can call them if you want. This way," I waved toward another Hush Tube. "We have more pressing matters to deal with."
"I was going to say hi," Captain Atom said and followed me. The others followed, one with no hesitation and the other seemingly unable to believe what her eyes and ears were receiving.
When all four of us appeared at the other end, Black Canary, looking troubled, erupted. Or at least, she tried to.
"But…"
"—This is Frances Kane," I cut her off with a gesture at the room hidden by an opaque glass. "She's fifteen years old and a metahuman who can manipulate magnetic fields. During the split, she and her brother were left alone in her father's car. In a panic, her powers worsened the already ensuing accident and her brother, unfortunately died. Long story short, her mother disowned her and kicked her out. Luckily, we had our eyes on the situation and one of my agents picked her up."
Martian Manhunter spoke first. "The girl… her mind is on the verge of fracturing."
Together with Atom and a distracted Canary, I turned to where Manhunter was looking and found a familiar scene. Frances sat on a hospital bed in drapes while two members of SHIELD's new science division ran all sorts of tests on her.
"Dead inside" could describe everything from her posture, demeanor, her eyes and even the way she breathed.
I wasn't equipped or trained to handle this, that's why Canary and Manhunter were here. As for Captain Atom, I wanted to say hi and also give him an early birthday gift.
"She wants her powers gone," I looked away from the depressing sight. No matter how long I did this Shield/superhero thing, I don't think I'd ever get over watching kids suffer and die.
Thanks to a certain someone dear to me, I now knew to embrace that sentiment and not run away from it.
"It's normal for someone in her situation to think that way," Canary rightfully pointed out. "But you know that. We all do. So why would you say tha—"
Her expression bloomed like a flower as realisation dawned on her.
""You can take her powers away.""
"Yes," I answered Manhunter and Atom. "Now you see my problem. This would be a one-and-done if she were an adult. But she's 15—"
"And her only guardian wants nothing to do with her."
"There's also experimentation laws to think about," said Canary. "But you clearly don't care about that."
I shrugged. "You're right. I care about people, and right now, I want to know how best to help that girl. Removing her powers obviously won't solve her problems. They may help, or they may reinforce some negative things she believes about herself. I don't know. You guys are the experts. That's why you're here."
"Uhh, are you sure?" Captain Atom gestured to himself.
"I have something for you. After we're done."
That made him raise his eyebrows but he didn't press further, focusing on the current subject matter instead.
"With the way you put it, I don't think her problems can be solved. Short of meeting her fathe— Wait. Where's her father?"
I shook my head. "He reappeared right in the middle of the road and a car," I made a motion with my hands, slapping a fist into my open palm.
"Damn. And her only remaining family doesn't want to talk to her."
A sudden thought then occurred to me, like a light bulb brain moment. "But I know other people who can."
The confused stares from those present didn't bother me in the slightest.
"You guys," I pointed at Manhunter and Canary. "See if you can get through to her. Don't worry, the doctors know you're coming. Atom and I have some catching up to do."
Without waiting for a response, I opened a Hush Tube and swept myself and Atom through it and we were back in the helicarrier command room.
Before he could say anything, I waved a hand and all the holograms spread out to the sides, leaving a lone one in the middle. It showed a flat map of Earth, one spot on an island blinking red with a pop up message showing Wade Eiling's ugly mug.
I simply waved toward it with a smile and my former mentor took slow, deliberate steps forward.
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Manhattan
October 13, 20:20
Third Person P.O.V.
Once again calling into doubt Elliot's status as a lynchpin for Order, Klarion's replacement arrived right in the midst of the world having its various underbellies exposed and systems being called into question.
Unlike her predecessor, a pulse of magic heralded the replacement's arrival, and every user of the arcane on the planet who wasn't a charlatan felt it. However feeling did not mean a capability to even locate or respond.
Elliot by virtue of his recently increased capabilities did not fall into this category. He already had an algorithm set up to notify him of chaos related phenomena, but as it just turned out he didn't need to.
A quick application of his new abilities let him lock onto the flare of magic and pinpoint its source in seconds. The location was precise to the extent he sent Stormbreaker through the opened Hush Tube before he himself walked through it.
As soon as he reached the other side, a blocky fist consisting entirely of diamond entered and rapidly enlarged within his sight. He didn't recoil and rather met it head on, smashing his forehead into it.
A loud bang went off and the fist and the diamond construct it belonged to went careening backward through the hole the hammer strike had created. Behind Elliot, the Hush Tube closed and he turned to the spooked security guard.
"Run," he jabbed his gloved thumb at the shop entrance.
The man kept holding his gun and scrambled for the door after a brief bout of hesitation. Elliot then gave his attention to the one supposed to take over from Klarion and her familiar, going forward and through the hole till he found a little blonde girl in a suit putting up a futile struggle against Stormbreaker.
"Flaw! Get this off me."
Turning its diamond head away from him, the familiar thumped toward its master. Elliot meanwhile examined the damage he'd caused with the throw and snapped his fingers, repairing it all.
He snapped his fingers once again for a Hush Tube, controlling it to sweep all of them through. Their new location was the site of the world splitting ritual. There, he recalled the hammer and waited for the inevitable.
"Flaw," the demon in a little girl's skin said, her "cute" voice capable of disarming and deceiving many. Her familiar obeyed and took off in a sprint toward Elliot with big, lumbering steps, throwing up dirt with each stride.
Whistling a tune to take the creeping edge off, Elliot lowered the hammer and angled it properly, waiting till the diamond giant was in range. As soon as it did, he swung the weapon like a bat, faster than the familiar could perceive and clocked it in the chin.
PENG!
It soared above the tree line, going higher and farther away from the scene till it became a twinkle in the sky.
For the first time since their short interaction, the smile on the little girl's face dropped.
"Who are you?" she asked as red-pinkish flames lit up around her hands.
She glitched when she said that, her form shifting between various levels of opacity and corporeality.
"Feeling it aren't you?" Elliot mocked
"What did you do?"
"Your Flaw is currently vibrating at a frequency that should turn it to dust in less than a minute. Plenty enough time for me to get my message across."
The Lord of Chaos answered with a blast of energy. The flames around her hands intensified and grew as they flew and slammed into Elliot. Without flinching or making any move to protect himself, he simply opened his arms wide, bared his chest and tanked it.
It quickly became apparent that the Lords of Chaos hadn't skimped out on their replacement. Even though her attack failed to leave the tiniest scratch on his suit, she still hit far harder than Klarion.
Her magic was several times more potent than his own, judging from how the ground around him had been scoured black for several meters.
"Oh… " she remarked upon finding Elliot utterly unharmed by her attack. "Klarion may not be such a disappointment after all."
"Klarion, is dead."
Elliot compressed the space between them and ended up right before her, his towering frame dwarfing her petite one completely.
"And you will wish you had joined him."
BOOM!
An explosion capable of bringing down a skyscraper went off right in his face, and it was triggered by nothing other than a flame the size of that on a lit candle.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
One after another, the retreating Lord of Chaos threw more inconceivable missiles at him, and he soon grew tired of them.
"Enough."
The Soulsword filled Stormbreaker at his command and wrapped it from haft to head. Rendered a pale, brilliant blue by the phenomenon, the divine weapon flew forth with a swing and caught the Chaos Lord in the chest, the strike and the weight enchantment making her fall in an arc.
Elliot warped space again and crouched next to her.
"Only a few seconds left so listen carefully. When you go back, tell your chaos buddies that Earth is off limits to your kind. If I catch any more of you weirdos here ever again, I will kill you and personally pay a visit to your hidey hole and wreak as much as havoc as I can. That's what you guys like, right?"
"We are the Lord of Chaos—"
"You don't have to believe me. Just try and see what happens."
With that, the girl had another bout of glitching before catching fire the same color as her magic. It consumed her in a flash both metaphorically and literally, leaving Stormbreaker in the dirt.