Technomancer in MCU

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Chapter 124

Technomancer in MCU

Deep Space

Ed had a solemn look on his face as he looked at the exploding Asgard.  He had made the last-minute decision to not take the Observatory or at least what was left of it. The Uru would have been valuable enough but the technical know-how of creating a localised version of the Bi-Frost would have been more valuable. Alas, he was sure that taking that would have come with some emotional baggage from the surviving Asgardians and he did not want to insult someone whose home had just been destroyed by him.

“Wha-ho–who—what is going on?” He smiled and turned around as he heard Daisy mutter incoherently. They were right to be shocked. After all, the form he was in was basically a stranger to them. Different body proportions but the same face and yet, it would be difficult for them to identify him with the suit he had built around his body using his powers. Speaking of his powers, he looked at his clenched fist as the constant lethargy that had constantly accompanied his soul had gone or at least reduced to such a negligible level that he could no longer feel it anymore.

“Good to see you too, Daisy,” He said, his voice deep and rumbling in the captain’s chamber. It had been a while since they had to be rescued by him and placed them in the CHI chamber and even then, he could still see the explosion that had rocked the realm of Asgard. It was probably due to the energy-dense nature of Asgard that the explosion was still going on even after an hour. At least, this way, he was sure that Hela was dead. Not with the space around Asgard sealed and with her body being destroyed from the inside out by the nanites he had conjured on the spot, her ticket to Valhalla had already been booked. It had been a close call, especially with Tony, who did not have even a single enhancement procedure done on his body but even he had pulled through though he was still in a coma but he was sure that by the time they reached Earth, Tony would be in top condition. He was thinking of gifting Tony a low-level enhancement procedure; the same for his wife. The man deserved it for the pain he had to endure. It was not as if he had any personal skin in the game, that he knew of. Not to mention that he was going to have to enhance the members of the Avengers and their direct parents 

“This is….reassuring,” Frank said concisely, and wasn’t that what was expected from him all the time? 

“Yeah, it feels good to be back,” He smiled warmly at the gathered forces. Thor and Loki were both absent as they had gone ahead to reassure their people that everything was fine and now they were on their way to their new home that was already built for them ahead of time. They had also established contact with New Asgard and the MoonBase and he was sure that gallons of alcohol had already been served in the respective bases once the news of their victory reached them. Now, all that was left was to reach Earth, stash the Infinity Stones, reach out for allies, and then storm Thanos’ ship, giving them the highest chance of success.

“What about Alfred and the others?” Daisy asked Ed in a small voice, probably scared to know the answer to that question. Loki had probably already sensed his Mother being on the ship and was already there before he could tell him. He has seriously upped his game regarding his sorcery. Toby and Alfred, on the other hand, had suffered the most during the ritual. Actually, Odin would have suffered the most if he had actually stayed till the end but the man had ended up kicking the bucket and pushed the burden of regulating his uber-heavy Odin Force to Frigga and then to Alfred. Frigga, aside from some minor internal injuries due to the burden of regulating the Odin Force, was fine, as E  had made a shield for everyone, on reflex, once the ritual was done and the Ritual Room had burst apart, exposing everyone involved to the void that the Yggdrasil tree lived in. Even he barely made it out of the small opening that was left of the Ritual Room of Asgard. The ensuing explosion ended up destroying the Royal Palace and everything around it but at that point, not much of importance was left on Asgard anyway and he was not going to fight it out with Hela and had already decided to let Asgard be destroyed so he just covered the people with armours and remotely took over the ships’ computers and ordered for them to just leave the planet. He could also no longer feel the nanites that he had planted in Hela’s body so it was safe to say that that chapter was closed now.

Toby and Alfred had bore the brunt of the ritual once both Odin and Frigga had bowed out. Toby’s soul had been overtaxed with how much effort it took to properly align his soul in his new body and Alfred’s entire internal systems had been fried due to the recklessness with which he used the Infinity Stones.Ed had not even known that Alfred had built into his body the feature to use the Space Stone as the core of his Arc Reactor. That was something that was only thrown around in the ideas board and yet, Alfred had gone ahead and built it into his own body. Not to mention that Alfred had actually used the Infinity Stones in direct succession without something like the Infinity Gauntlet to regulate that power. That must have damaged not just his body but his soul as well. From a cursory scan, he had been able to figure out that the damage to Alfred’s body was extensive but repairable, given time but the damage done to his soul was not trivial. It would probably require a host of treatments to heal his soul or rather, the Soul Stone if he wanted to do it the fast way. 

Answering Daisy’s question, Ed said, “To answer your question, Alfred is fine. His body and soul were damaged but—”  He hastened to clarify once Daisy’s eyes grew wide in obvious distress.”--the damage can be easily reversed. It will take time but he will be fine. As for Toby, that’s where things get a bit complicated. His body as well as soul have been very damaged but due to his unique physiology, I can’t say for sure how long it will take for him to heal. He has obviously been stabilised but I can’t comment on the future conditions,” 

That was true. Toby was literally one of a kind. His body and soul were blessed by ROB when he was transported into this universe. Even now, he was getting feedback from the ships’ systems that Toby’s body was healing on its own but the speed with which it was doing so was markedly slower than usual. One thing that could explain that was damage to the soul, hampering Toby’s abilities. After all, the only thing Toby needed to fully heal his body from even the extreme ends of damages was just nutrients, i.e., darkness or darkness-tainted life force in his case. 

“Friend Ed, can we talk?” He looked up as the door to the captain’s chamber opened up and in stepped Thor and Loki. He only looked up for their benefit because as he was now, he knew every single thing that was happening on the ship in real time. It was a marked difference from his previous situation where he had to rely on Alfred even to move his own body.

He nodded, already anticipating why Thor would request a private meeting, and stood up. He then nodded to Daisy and Frank, then gestured to the door where a floating platform was already waiting for them to take them to the meeting room. Thor nodded, a bit tersely and returned to stand on the platform, he followed suit as well. Loki stood to the side, looking at everything except him and Thor. Soon, they reached the nearest meeting room. Once inside, Ed had to duck almost immediately as the place his head was in was filled with the hyper-dense metal of Mjolnir. He jumped forward and turned around to see Thor with lightning crackling all over his body along with Loki who was leaning on the door, seemingly relaxed yet he knew that out of the two of them, Loki was actually the more dangerous one. 

Yet, he was not here to fight with them. If he wanted to, he could have stopped that blow in its tracks and had Thor imprisoned in a piece of armour that would have immediately immobilised not only his body but also all of his internal energy, rendering him powerless. “Can I ask why you did that?” Instead, he questioned Thor calmly as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. He once again marveled at his new body. In his previous body, he would have to look up to see Thor in the face, being less than 6 ft in height while Thor was over 6 '5 ft at the very least. In his new body, he looked straight at Thor’s face without any difficulty.

At his question, Thor closed his eyes and took deep breaths, calming himself because the lighting arcing across his body receded back in his body. He then opened his eyes as Loki stood up to the side, “Was there no other way?” Thor gritted out, his patience apparently at the limit.

He sighed. He had expected this question, especially since the only person whose answer both of them would trust was currently in a magical coma, being treated for her wounds. They might be minor but any injury of the soul was taken seriously in every civilisation. It was only a matter of time before Frigga awoke but even then, for her to fully recover, it would take a long time, probably months or years. Ed also understood how it looked to someone from an outside perspective. He had cost them their father, their home, their freedom, and also, apparently, their mother. Anyone would be angry when faced with such a situation. He had hoped for them to wait until Frigga was awake before asking such questions or at least, waiting till they reached New Asgard but it would seem that the two Princes’ anger surpassed their rational mind at the moment. It was not as if there was someone who was on New Asgard with a direct position of authority other than Heimdall himself. He was about to answer their question but before he could utter a word, he widened his eyes and just jumped through the wall next to him, the two brothers left behind. The wall morphed around him as he jumped into the next wall, leaving the same way, not even leaving an imprint. At the same time he was running straight outside the ship, he had already taken control of every ship and ordered them to run away from the ship waiting in front of them, at full throttle. He had also ordered all sorcerers in Kamar Taj to be on standby for rescue and yet, he could see the futility of his actions as they refused to believe in his words. They would only listen to Alfred’s words then.

“Attention All Units! Retreat to evacuation pods!” He shouted over the ships’ comms as all of the ships entered defensive mode but he knew it would be futile because the ships had already been depleted of most of their energy during the fight with Hela. Most of the damage that Hela had caused had been repaired by the auto repair functions of the ships but the reactors in them had been depleted severely. The ships barely had enough juice to reach Earth while maintaining the standard barrier systems around them for safety. 

Those barriers would have been more than enough for enemies having ships at the level of Ravagers or any other pirate organisations. It was clearly not enough for the armies that were about to descend on the carriers.

The armies from Sanctuary II that were floating ominously in front of them.

Thanos had arrived and they were literally caught with their pants down, Ed thought as he looked at his chest where three inconspicuous lights shined through the plating on his armour, just waiting for the Mad Titan to take them.

Word Count - 2142

Next - The Final Encounter