Disclaimer - I don’t own Marvel/Disney IP. I am just a humble keyboard warrior. Also, the Chaos Gacha was made by Bronz here. I am just dipping my toe in the water, so to speak.
Australia
–Mike–
Passing over the ocean in a Military Jet was no fun, especially since there were no conveniently placed windows for him to look out of. Also, this was a vastly different experience compared to simply riding on Ghidorah’s back. Once upon a time, it would have been. A unique experience to ride inside the SHIELD Quinjet, heading to meet the head honcho, but now?
After having ridden Ghidorah across the ocean and becoming part dragon, part thunderbird, and also just all around being done with the bullshit that was his life, he had practically zero f*cks to give. Right now, the only thought going through his mind was the meeting, or rather, the negotiation ahead of him.
Yes, even the almighty Friends series had failed to rouse his interest. After the first episode itself, he was bored with it, a thought that would be practically blasphemy back in his previous life, and yet, his mind remained restless, not allowing him to enjoy anything. So, restless foot tapping it was.
Coulson was equally tense, though a lot less than during the start of the journey. Even with the Quinjet, it was still going to take a lot of time to reach the site. The meeting point was inside the Continent, not on the coast, where the majority of the population of the country lived. Until then, Ghidorah’s presence was not an issue, but government and military leaders were bound to get nervous when they inevitably saw Ghidorah flying towards them at a leisurely pace, for them anyway.
Looking at Coulson, who was intently looking at his phone, “Are we going over a city?”
While he wanted to maintain a tough and unyielding stance for the negotiation, atleast for the beginning parts, it wouldn’t do any good for anyone in the command chain to have a panic attack and take a decision that might delay the meeting, so even if it did delay them, he could have Ghidorah take a-
Coulson smiled at him slightly as he replied, “No, we are taking a slight detour to fly over a coast that was not populated. We have taken steps to make sure that no one can delay the meeting. Don’t worry.”
He nodded externally, but internally, he was cursing himself. Ofcourse, they had prepared for that. SHIELD was not amateurs. He had spoken for no reason and risked his cool guy character. Oh, well.
Shrugging, his mind went back to what he would demand. Oh, he knew what he wanted. He wanted nothing more than to put this whole thing behind him, but that was clearly impossible, which is why he was going to have to jump through hoops to get to something that resembled normalcy.
He wanted the world to accept his existence, that much was non negotiable, but the problem was reaching there. You don’t start a negotiation by telling them exactly what you want. You asked for something outrageous that they would obviously reject, and then, both sides whittle each other down to get what they both want.
A compromise of sorts.
So, he needed to start the negotiation with an unreasonably great demand, which could then be negotiated down to freedom of movement across the world, guarantee that nukes won’t be launched anytime Ghidorah moves, and he and Ghidorah will not be experimented on, though the last demand was basically useless even if they did guarantee it.
There were far too many ways to get past that, and he knew enough about this universe that there were always going to be experiments and arms races, be it biological or technological, but at least he could get something public out of them, in case he wanted to expose their crimes later on.
Also, that experimental safety was not going to come from them, but from his own personal strength and Ghidorah’s apocalyptic nature. He could not think of a single organisation that would have both technical and magical know-how to get him and Ghidorah on the back foot, atleast not on Earth anyway.
Maybe there were a few in the universe, but even they would be hard pressed to defeat both him and Ghidorah at the same time, not unless they had an artefact on par with an Infinity Stones or one powered by one of the Stones.
Shaking his head, he looked at his tablet once more and lamented the fact that he would not be able to use the inbuilt note keeping app to gather his thoughts properly. After all, like most electronics that were either handed to him for use or to live in, were bugged, to the point he was impressed by the specs of the tab because it was able to serve him media and serve its overlords all the information they wanted.
Scrolling aimlessly through the catalogue of TV series and movies that Coulson had oh so graciously brought for him, he quickly found yet another classic that he had loved previously. He knew that this, too would get boring soon, but he wanted something to pass the time.
In the middle of the first episode of the 70s show, his thoughts were jolted slightly as he felt the active link between him and Ghidorah burst to life, with feelings of annoyance, rage, and curiosity bombarding his head at the same time.
Three feelings from a three headed creature. It did not take a genius to know how that happened.
Sighing, he sent the thoughts of just bear with it, before moving on to his episode. They had both figured out how to keep a link without the thoughts of the Kaiju overwhelming his mind. It had taken some trial and error that he did while in the safety of the RV, but so far, it had worked out great.
Even while there was a considerable distance between the Quinjet and Ghidorah, he could easily keep the link active, without much strain. He could keep the link open for as long as he wanted to. Looking at Alcina, he sent out a probe to her as well, having informed her of his ability previously.
“Are you ready?”
“I just have to act as your bodyguard. What is there to be ready for?” She sent the thoughts immediately, as she continued to read through the magazines provided to her, the analysts of SHIELD correctly assumed that she preferred them to screens, because of the fact that she read through all the books that were present inside the RV.
Yes, even the owner’s manual as well, which was still there inside the RV.
And just like that, time passed as the Quinjet finally began slowing down, as he sensed more and more Jets entering his wind radar, the ability he had because of his heritage as a Thunderbird. Some of the Jets were clearly Quinjets, but most of them were other shapes, which either meant the US Air Force had pulled up or the more likely option, a coalition of countries was tasked with protecting the continent.
Hell, even if he had the internet, he would have pulled up flight trackers to check just how many jets were flying around this area, and just how empty the rest of the continent’s air corridor was. Well, even if he did that, there was no guarantee that military jets would keep the data public.
Getting those niche thoughts out of his mind, he kept his mouth shut as the Quinjet began losing altitude. He trusted Coulson and SHIELD to find a landing site big enough for both the Quinjet and Ghidorah to land at the same time.
The number of jets escorting them slowly thinned over time as the Quinjet finally stopped somewhere, still in the air but no longer moving ahead. The Quinjet, of course had VTOL capability, as did Ghidorah, but the wind gusts that Ghidorah used to keep himself afloat were obviously intense enough to push people and temporary structures away, which is why the Quinjet could not land properly.
Telling the Ghidorah to go ahead and take a turn before coming back, he turned to Coulson, who was looking at him with an alarmed expression, and assured him, “Don’t worry. It will come back once we are done landing, or do you want me to do the landing? I can keep the Quinjet stable through the wind gusts.”
Coulsopn snapped out of his shock as she shook his head and spoke into the comms he had around his head, “Go for landing! I repeat, we are go for landing…”
He smiled as the Quinjet slowed down, the presence of dozens of big vehicles a fair distance away from the landing site meant that his welcoming party was here. He wondered just who it was.
As the ramp opened up and he walked out instead of flying out, he saw who it was. Ofcourse, it was Nick Fury who was waiting for him.
He was a fair distance away, but his sight could easily make out the badass sight of the man. Trench coat flapping through the wind, hands crossed behind his back, one eye hidden and the other squinting towards them, as if trying to see properly.
He shouldn’t have bothered. He didn’t have the superhuman sight required to make out smaller details. Then, the vehicles behind Fury received some sort of signal, as an entire convoy of cars whirred to life. Fury entered one of the many blacked out SUVs that were headed towards him.
Coulson walked out of the Quinjet, and the Quinjet hastily took off as the humungous form of Ghidorah flew overhead, blowing up dust everywhere, casting a shadow over them, before there was a huge thudding sound. It was as if a localised earthquake had struck, as Ghidorah slowly sat on the ground, his three heads upright, looking all around, with the giant wingspan slowly retracting, as sunlight hit his body once more.
Man, what he wouldn’t give for someone to have recorded this moment. What was he thinking? There were quite literally hundreds of cameras on him right now. Ofcourse, the moment was recorded. He just had to remember to ask for the footage later on.
He would have loved a video from a lower angle, but a regular angle worked as well, since the subjects in the video itself were attention seeking enough.
Some of the SUVs moved because of the air, their truck-like construction not helping with the body roll, but all of them pulled through, coming to a stop right in front of him.
Fury had already opened the door and had one foot out of the car before the car had even rolled to a stop, coming out of it seamlessly, as if he had done the same dozens of times before.
“Director Fury.” He greeted the man.
Fury walked up to him, was silent for a moment before he spoke, as if the words were being pulled forcefully through his teeth, “Mike.”
Coulson then interjected, “This way, please."
He looked at Fury for a moment more and then smirked as they were led into another SUV, as the entire convoy sped off, likely to the massive white compound visible in the distance.
The sound of Jets flying overhead continued as the Military worked overtime to make sure no one and nothing could mess things up.
___xx___
Stepping out of the car, he noted the lack of cameras at his entrance, before he followed Coulson and Fury, who were taking him into the compound. He could sense dozens of people around him, just inside the tents, dozens more underground, and hundreds more inside the entire miniature city they had built here in such a short period of time.
Man, the world really was spooked, but he also knew the spark of greed that was hidden behind the fear of Ghidorah. Most nations and their representatives here probably were ordered to look for any benefits they could coax out of him, as was expected from humans.
Was that racist?
He was part Dragon and part thunderbird now, and even without that, humans were plenty racist towards other humans, so yup, he supposed that it was racist.
As they walked through the compound that was full of people inside the tents, but not a single soul outside and visible to him, it felt like a ghost town, right up until he reached a completely empty tent, situated at the center of the entire compound.
“Please,” Coulson gestured for them to enter, and what a tent it was. It was basically a five star hotel in a tent.
“The negotiations will begin shortly, or do you need some time to freshen up?”
“No. No need. Send them.” He said as Coulson nodded and Fury left as well.
___xx__
It was only after fifteen minutes that he felt someone arrive. To his confusion, it was only a single person who’d come, instead of the team of negotiators, or atleast that was what he was led to believe. Probing deeper, he realised why. The man was a mutant, a powerful one at that. No, not just powerful, he was odd. It was as if an amalgamation of mutant powers had just walked in.
The doors to his tent opened up as a person walked in, and immediately, his guard was up. He signalled Alcina to stand down, her senses telling her about the danger this man posed immediately.
After all, the rhombus shaped gem in his forehead and the mish mash of mutant energy signatures were dead giveaways.
The man smiled brightly at him, “Greetings. I am–”
“Nathaniel Essex.” He interrupted the man, shocking him even, based on his wide eyes. He recovered from the shock almost immediately, as his entire body language changed, even as he maintained that disguise, which was probably a product of shapeshifting. It was likely that the person whose face Nathaniel was wearing was dead somewhere, and he had used the face to infiltrate this event.
“I see that my fame precedes me. To think that someone like you would know of me, I am pleased.” He prattled on, as he had pushed his mind to the maximum possible speed, trying to think through this disaster in the making.
He couldn't expose the man, he couldn’t kill the man, not quickly anyway, and any incident was going to complicate matters. The best possible answer was to let the man go away on his own, but that was clearly not going to happen.
Sinister was here simply because he believed that he was a strong mutant, nothing more and nothing less. He was obsessed with creating strong mutants so that he could escape the clutches of yet another strong mutant. Previously, his focus was the Summers bloodline, but his existence must have made the madman change his goal.
Now, the question remained. How to do that?
Before he could ponder over that question and do anything to get rid of the pest that was Sinister, a black flame bloomed directly in front of Sinister. He was already in the process of backpedalling, but black tentacles, dozens of them, shot out of the flame, which he now realised was a portal, and dragged the screaming man inside without any struggle whatsoever.
He was already on his feet, ready to call Ghidorah to him immediately and flee this place, because the black flame was giving him a bad feeling, but the portal closed immediately after Sinister was dragged into it.
He remained tense, though, even as a note fluttered right in front of him, as if it had manifested out of nothing. He snatched it out of the air, reading through it.
I’ve taken care of the idiot, for now. Will meet soon.
Yours lovingly,
Selene Gallio
___xx__
Even as the negotiators arrived one by one, he smiled and tried not to think of the clusterf*ck that was Selene and her unique brand of madness she brought to the table. Still, though, she was not his headache, and he was taking the first opportunity to do the magical version of tattling on Selene, to the Ancient One. After all, in the magical world, the Ancient One was very much the elder sibling who ruled with an Iron Fist and who could not be defeated.
After all, much like an Elder sibling, she had that strength that could not be overcome by any of the younger siblings.
Word Count - 2808
A/N - A different tone chapter. Let me know if you hate it. Also, I promise that the next one is the part where everything is revealed properly.