Electrify - Volume 1 Chapter 21

We headed to the hearing in Washington. No jury was appointed because the there was literally no one qualified and have no opinion on Hydra. Peirce was given an opportunity to speak and defend his organization while we were given to opportunity to bury him under ground. All the super heroes were in their costumes while Thor and Fiore were formally dressed. The panel of judges sat down and the hearing began with Peirce being brought in chains. There were diplomats from other countries here as well but no one seemed to mind.

“This trial is to judge an organization which we thought was buried in history. Their action spoke volumes and they need no further introduction. Let the trial begin, Hydra against the public.” The judge with the highest rank began and Peirce was brought into the room in chains.

“Alexander Peirce, will you represent your organization.” The judge asked and he nodded.

“The list of crimes against you and your organization is long enough to warrant death but in the interest of our system. You have a chance to defend your self. Let me remind you, should you expose any state secrets, you will be executed on the spot. Do you understand?” He nodded.

“My name is Alexander Peirce. A citizen of America, wrong fully convicted of the crimes I didn’t commit.” He said and looked towards the press and began to speak. “These people have no right to keep me here, they have no proof and let it be known that this is what our system does to people who speak up.”

“Mr. Pierce, are you saying that these doc.u.ments with your sign are fake? These doc.u.ments that clearly suggest that you were in fact fully aware of your actions and caused from civil wars to assassinations.” The judge asked and Peirce smiled.

“I have no recollection of that. Those doc.u.ments can be forged.”

“We also have signed confessions of no less than 50 of your associates, would you deny that as well.”

“Confessions can be forced.”

“How about the video footage of you personally giving out orders to a militia for nefarious reasons. I suppose you will deny these as well.” The judge shook his head. “Prosecution, will take the floor now.”

“Thank you, your honor. Before anything else, let me state a few of the crimes this man has personally committed. 23 murders of American citizens of American soil, staging political assassinations, kidnaping children for indoctrination into his organization, killing the said children if they are ever classified as failures. He has used every underhanded move to get an advantage. Do not listen to his ramblings, we is so much evidence against him that it is not even funny.” The lawyer dramatically and turned around to face Peirce. “Mr. Pierce, would you like to talk about your motivations during the time you were conducting such acts of violence and terrorism?”

“Terrorism is such a crude word. The earn in thousands per second but the poor starve to death and that sounds like terrorism. We have masked vigilantes inflicting violence on US citizens to satisfy their egos and that sounds like violence.” Pierce looks that the cameras. “the government has over 6000 people in jail and without a lawyer, without any rights. Does this also not appear as a terrorist act?” He said with a serious expression.

“Don’t you mean the people who have a mountains worth of evidence against them? And we did give you the right to lawyers and it is not our fault that you can’t convince one to work for you.” The lawyer turned around and addressed the media. “This man will have you believe that the government has them caged like some sort of animals, without right or respect. However, I can assure you that their rights have not been take away, they were grant all the opportunities that a citizen of America would have.”

The trial continued and the lawyer kept on presenting more and more evidence while Peirce tried to claim that he was falsely accused. There were many people, who were shocked when the verdict came. All the people who were in high positions would have all their holdings seized and be executed with the low level goons were to be jailed for life. Peirce got the chair and he gave a heartfelt speech Bout how he was a martyr and If he wasn’t a psychopath, even I would have been moved. There were a few things that were bothering me greatly. Herbert Wyndham, Colonel Stryker, someone called the Thinker and what Pierce said at the end.

“We have a piece of creation and we will build a new.” Before he was sent away.

If I were to guess, he was talking about an infinity stone but the chances of that were statistically low and since, even the wizards were hush about it, I didn’t believe it. Or the possibility of Hydra having an infinity stone bothered me to the point I had to self the idea till there was news about it.

At shield HQ, I was finally given my own office with a proper designation, the Vice Director of Shield. I managed many mission assignments and asset handling, people were uncomfortable at first due to a masked person in a high place but my record held and so did my skills, and the transition to the new role the Shield played in the world happened a lot smoother than I ever expected. The new recruits were being trained and the veterans were properly being used. It was a rather peaceful few days considering what had actually happened.

Maria, Fury, TACT and I came to an understanding that the new recruits were to be vetted thoroughly and there should be no Hydra situation ever again. The new recruitment protocol sated clearly that if ever an agent were to leak or to ever conspire against the interests of Shield, they would be executed without trial. This one piece of information was constantly brought up during training to the point where no one could claim that they weren’t informed. There were even a few mutants that popped up in the recruits. However, their mutations were minor or negligible. For example, a guy’s had the ability to turn his nails into glass or how a woman had the ability to change to color of her eyes. It was down right stupid to even consider to put them in my unit. Although, they were disappointed at my refusal, they were understanding. They had a few kids to show them what it took to make it into my unit, very unique and useful set of mutations. Speaking of my unit, Fury finally went around to give it a name, Unit M. While it was a bit on the uncreative side, I didn’t complain but Peter gave us a week long headache with his constant lists of name he thought were better. Seriously, if he thought that I would ever accept Team Special, as the name them the disappointment was all on him.

While, things at Shield were more or less quiet, things at the Queens base were awkward as hell. Fiore and I had a very different upbringing and traditions. Which, was not why things were awkward. I happened a few days ago, during a training session, I tried to get Amatsu to control his temperature, but what it didn’t thinks was the clothes I was wearing were shield tracks and they were flammable. The clothes were gone the instant Amatsu was out of the tattoo, I realized his a bit too late as Fiore shrieked. My first instinct was to check if she was okay and I didn’t just that but rushing over to her butt n.a.k.e.d. She pushed me into a wall and ran away but not before calling me a pervert. It was at this point that I realized that I f.u.c.k.i.e.d up. From then on, we were kind of awkward around each other.

In the mean while, at Hell’s kitchen there was many different types of shit storms brewing. The Hand was up to something, there was a new kind of synthetic heroin in town, and there were rumors about a mutant who swallowed people. I want to go out there and punch some dude in the face but my time table didn’t really allow for that to happen. I had to pass on the information to NYPD or other agencies and sometimes Peter despite his complaints. Peter wanted a sort of freedom in the jobs he does or missions he takes. I told him that we already had that but he kept insisting that the mission pool was very selective and he want to choose from all of them. We had a little chat about how many missions were undercover or long term and mostly out of NY he backed off but not before claiming that the next super villain in NY will be his to take down.

At Kamartaj, I had discovered another problem with my self, I was barred from drawing power from any other dimension besides mine. So, the spells like Crimson Bands of Cyttorak were out of my reach. Ancient One’s solution was to simply send a projection into the realm of Cyttorak and ask for power directly, though 99% chance of soul being destroyed. When I simply said no to that helpful suggestion, Ancient One said to simply fashion the spell to your needs. The reason for calling upon the ancient entities is for them to supply the spell with magic. For example, Crimson Bands of Cyttorak was capable of rooting a rock troll, rock troll are known for their feats of destroying planets in groups of 5 and a single one can move continents. The sheer amount of energy required to make some capable of moving continents, immobile is soul destroying, literally. So, the sorceress made pacts with the ancient entities for the energy requirements. The Entities on the other hand did it for either the lols or for a price.

There were minor issues piling up on my plate, but I felt rather good to solve them and the feeling of improvement was very soothing. I would love some future foreshadowing but at the same time I didn’t really want to. If I knew what ever bullshit was going to pile up, I would really live in the moment and will always be worrying about the future. Maybe it time I stopped talking to my other self and be my own person. I thought about this for a while and sighed. Will I be abandoning the future?

“Maxwell, is something wrong?” She asked me.

“Not really. Why?” I asked.

Did she just felt my state through the spell?

“Did you use the spell?” I asked again and she nodded.

“I didn’t really use it, but I could feel that it was stressed. Are you stressed about something?” She asked.

“I am struggling with a decision. I have a bit of knowledge that can be very useful but come at a price. I am not sure if I want that.” I said.

“How good is the information?” She asked.

“I don’t know, but it is accurate.”

“that doesn’t sound very assuring.”

“it isn’t.”

I said and pulled her into a hug. I felt like it and since, I am not thrown into a wall, it means that means it’s all good. We kissed again and held each other.

“I expected another date before we did this.” She said with a light blush.

“Let’s go on two more just to even it out.” I said and we continued to kiss.

While making out with an alien Asgardian goddess, I had already made a decision. Subconsciously at least, I knew that I didn’t need to chain myself to that information. We separated for a breath and continued for a few more moments before stopping. Any further and we will have a problem we cannot back out off.

“Thank you, I needed that.” I said.

“Hmm, it feels nice. No wonder Frandal acts the way he does.” Fiore said with a sigh.

I sighed and felt my head ache for a while as information poured into it. Hydra, Hand, Illuminati, INHUMANS, Ragnarok, Guardians, Apocalypse, Phoenix, Thanos. Names and events poured into my head. I looked at Fiore and sighed. I was glad that I found someone but there will forever be a rift between me and her. Someone had literally ripped the memories out of my soul for keeping what I knew, I do not want to find out what they would do if I told someone about it. Unknowingly, I had already acquired one of the infinity stones. I felt good about the Abyss and the skills I had acquired from shield.

I was sure that my worldview would change but the effect of the transfer was minute and the personality I had cultivated away from my past remained dominant. We both separated and I went back to the gym area. I picked up a small weight and formed a coil like structure using lightning. This in essence should produce enough force to launch a projectile like a rail gun. I placed the weight in the coil and watch it bury itself in the wall. It was an idea from my past self but at he time he didn’t have enough control over his power to stuff like this.

I was also surprised to see, how much I had changed. Due to my stunt with shield, Erik would not be such a d.i.c.k towards Xmen and that should prevent an early Phoenix rising. Stunts with my team had provided mutants with a positive view and people appeared more accepting. The entire situation with sokovia accords can be avoided by simply telling Tony to back off. Jarvis and TACT could take on the full burden of thousands of drones. What I needed to focus on was a very unstable situation with the apocalypse. Like what the f.u.c.k, an ancient super mutant woken up by a ray of the f.u.c.k.i.n.g sun accidentally. Also, Ororo was already with the Xmen, did the apocalypse situation happen already or will it happen differently? I sighed an started making mental note about this shit. It was this very reason why I was leaning towards being ignorant. I need to check out the realm again.

With a few seconds of concentration, I was back inside the realm of infinite lightning. Unlike before, I could feel that this place was empty. I played around with a bit of lightning and went back outside. A few hours had passed and Frost was acting up for food. I let the little wraith raid the meat locker for a few minutes before keeping him back. I let out Amatsu in a safe area and let him slither around. I showed him the little ball of Eternal flames but he shook his head and went back into the tattoo. Finally, with a bit of dinner and Shield work I went to sleep.

The next day, I was back at the cave and finally turned my attention to the Extremis virus and the SS serum formula. I was already strong but Steve held back Thanos with sheer will and strength for a few seconds. It might look insignificant but one must realize that the Titan in question was one with a Deviant gene, near cosmic power, and a world destroyer without the infinity gauntlet. It would be self defeating to not use the SS serum and extremis virus after a little modification of course. With that in mind, I buried myself in biology and other avenues of interest. The virus aptly names so because, it works like a virus. It is in essence a serum which induced a reaction at a genetic level and enhances the longevity and overall structure of the said organism. The heat is a byproduct of the serum due to it reaction with human biology. I think that this serum was never intended for this particular use, however there must have been a ‘if the shoe fits’ situation. I think so because Tony was never a biologist to begin with and him solving a ground breaking formula after a few minute seem out of question. What he must have done was apply mathematics to streamline the calculations and results which lead to Maya inventing the formula was a decade. What ever happened in that decade changed the focus of the project to what it is now.

“Sir, I am receiving a call from a Matt Murdock. How shall I proceed?” TACT notified me.

“Connect him.” I said and began to trace his location.

“I assume the shit has hit the fan?” I asked and he sighed.

“Kid, you sure this guy can even help us?” I heard an old man say.

“Shut up. Electro we need your help. How fast can you head over.” He said and I looked at his position.

“3 minutes.” I said and there was silence on the phone.

“Did you trace my call? Why am I even asking? Just come.” He said and turned off the phone.

I flew over to his house and knocked on the door. A chubby white man opened the door and stared at me with eyes. Foggy Nelson, he was exactly like in the Daredevil series.

“Sir, I am a big fan.” He said and held his hand out nervously.

“Foggy Nelson, I have read about your work here. Good Job.” I said and walked in.

Matt was shirtless with many bruises and cuts. I turned on my sight and saw that he also had a few broken bones. The old man Stick was also in the room and was clearly in a position to decapitate someone.

“I have seen you move. Who could get the jump on you?” I asked and Matt just sighed.

“A ninja from the Hand. He was called Nobu. Fisk ambushed me.” He said.

“I have dealt with the Hand before. They don’t have nearly enough skill to get the jump on you.” I said and Stick laughed.

“Kiddo, you must have dealt with a sleeper. The real Hand retards have enough training to infiltrate anywhere and kill anyone. Nobu is one of the leaders.” He explained.

“And if this leader is already dead, then what am I doing here?” I asked and Stick laughed.

“We need your help to bring down Wilson Fisk. He is planning to take over all Italian crime families in New York and if he does he will be able to reign free.” He said.

“I am sure Spider Man has the drug situation handled. If you are asking help to deal with a few humans then it is better if you quit while you are ahead. Tell me if there a situation with Hand.” I said and moved to the door.

“So, that’s it. Aren’t you supposed to help the city?” He yelled out.

“Yes, and may be Spider-Man will help you in this particular situation. Only call me if you are dealing with supernatural.” I said and felt Stick go rigid for a while.

I flew over the city and began to look around for an Apartment or a building in Fisk’s name, and I didn’t find any, but I did find an apartment in someone’s name who couldn’t have possibly earned enough to buy that. I flew over there and looked around through the window. On a bedroom wall there was a white painting that almost looked like a blank canvas. With that confirmed, I teleported into the apartment and waited for Fisk to show up. I even made a good meal for two people. Took out a really expensive vine and poured out two drinks and waited for Fisk. I heard the door open and two people entered the building. One was a huge man with a bald head with the other was a medium build with a square jaw and a glasses. James Wesley was a caution but smug guy, he always knew when to back off and how to do it while remaining in a position of power. Whoever, when recognition dawned on him about just who he was pointing the gun at, his knees almost gave out.