Marvel: I'm a Symbiote

Symbiote 0282: Annexation

‘Lightning Divinity …’ Alex spent some time analyzing what the ability entailed.

‹Lightning Divinity›:: Absolute mastery over lightning on the level of electrons.

After spending two hours analyzing the ability, that was all Alex could come up with. Ultimately, his lightning abilities had reached a level beyond what could directly be inferred. He had to spend time analyzing lightning itself to come up with new techniques to help him in combat. All he could clearly say now was that he had absolute mastery over lightning, and all that limited him was his imagination.

‘At least I can use Synapse Collapse as much as I want without any issues since the strain it causes on my mind and soul has become almost negligible.’

After a delayed and much-needed empowering, Alex finally decided to directly come in contact with the Illuminati. While he was concerned about Emma Frost’s ability to break into his mind, he had the Mind Stone and enough Bioenergy to splurge to offset the backlash.

…

As Alex empowered himself within his soul, Captain America led him through Stark Tower and to the elevator.

“How about a heads up for me before you get involved in the meeting?” Samantha spoke to Alex.

“No can do, Captain,” He shook his head. “I will address the complete council.”

“I swear, if this is some kind of joke, I will be the first one to beat some sense into you.” She threatened.

“Rest assured. I have a way to take care of both Shang Chi and his backer.”

Samantha went quiet, not engaging further as the elevator made its way to the top floor of the skyscraper. She led him through the corridors and to a concealed elevator. Once inside, she typed in a code that was followed by the signature ding of an elevator.

A few seconds later, the elevator opened directly into a large room with a conference table in the center. It was already populated by multiple familiar faces.

“You guys took heavy inspiration from the Situation Room, huh?” Alex noticed how the design of the room was very similar to the situation room of the White House.

“Who are you, Mr. Hunt?” Dr. Strange wasn’t one to waste time in serious situations. “Unlike most people in the world who have at least a few copies littered through the other Earths, you have none. While I have detected your signature on multiple Earths, they are not multiversal copies by mere clones of your true self. Are you even human?”

“You can’t tell?” Alex didn’t yet look at the man and continued looking around.

“No. My mystic arts are unable to peer into you. As if you have some active defenses to prevent my magic from affecting you.”

“Where’s Black Bolt?” Alex didn’t reciprocate with an answer to Dr. Strange’s question. “I see everyone but him here.”

“He’s too self-absorbed with the Inhumans to care about problems on Earth,” Emma Frost spoke up. “I sometimes envy that their home base is far enough away from civilization that they can just hole up and ignore all outside problems.”

“If you want to accelerate your development, I can provide the mutants with the tech to terraform the moon,” Alex said with a chuckle, finally turning to the group. “No need to feel jealous of the mutants of the other Earths.”

“How about we get to the crux of the situation?” Tony spoke up. “Strange is rightfully skeptical about your identity, but the issue at hand is the terrorist. You said that you have information to share with us?”

“I do, but I expected the entire council to have convened for this,” Alex shook his head. Before anyone could say anything to dissuade him, he waved his hand, and a red crack formed in the space in the room. It started swirling and formed a vortex that spat out the last member of the council. In his panic, Blackbolt was about to attack everything around himself indiscriminately. “Quiet, or I’ll blow your head off.”

The Inhuman’s mouth opened to attack, but he quickly shut up, unwilling to destroy everything around him.

“Now that everyone has convened, allow me to officially introduce myself —“

“That was Chaos Magic. No wonder I couldn’t use Mystic Arts to pry into you. Are you a variant of Wanda Maximoff?”

“False, Strange,” Alex shook his head. “And you would do well to not interrupt me again. I can strip you of your powers in an instant if I so desire.” Amidst his words, Emma Frost screamed in pain, clutching her head. “If we’re done with the meaningless tests, I shall introduce myself,” Alex spoke, finally turning to the seven occupants of the room.

[EP -500]

“My real name is Apex. I am the owner of The Gaia Federation. The reason that I am here today is because the force that has targeted this planet is not one that you can contend against,” He addressed all of the people in the room.

“And pray tell, who is this unimaginable force that we are too weak to fight?” Namor retorted.

“It’s good that you asked,” Alex smiled. “Wanda Maximoff. The second strongest one in this Convergence — or Clusterfuck of Earths as I like to call it. She calls herself the Scarlet Angel and even has a halo that follows her around at all times.”

“So what? This one’s blonde?” Tony asked. “We’ve dealt with our Wanda Maximoff when she tried to kill everybody after her father died. We can deal with another.”

“Do tell me, how do you plan to do that?” Alex asked. “Your strongest heroes include Blackbolt, Strange, and maybe Stark if he can make a good enough armor. That’s all. Your Hulk imploded in a self-induced gamma blast, your Captain Marvel is nowhere to be seen, and your Thor has been gone for over a decade; as for the mutants, they don’t have a single true Omega Level beyond maybe Miss Frost here — Jean Gray is barely a mediocre telepath, Magneto is dead, and the less that’s said about Charles the better; your Reed Richards is just a kid and the other Fantastic Four are nowhere to be seen, need I continue? You cannot win against the Scarlet Angel.”

“What does she want, exactly?” Dr. Strange spoke thoughtfully.

“Your Infinity Stones,” Alex said.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Emma spoke. “Why would she give someone else the stones that belong to her in order to have them find more Infinity Stones? There has to be something more to it.”

“There isn’t,” Alex shook his head. “And Shang Chi doesn’t possess the Reality and Mind Stones. They are still in Scarlet Angel’s hands. She has merely provided him with a channel to utilize them in case he needs to. His job is to lay low and search this planet for any Infinity Stones that you may have.”

“Lay low, you say?” T’Challa almost scoffed. “Repeatedly bombing an entire state constitutes laying low?”

“That’s where he has gone off track. Scarlet Angel doesn’t particularly care about your planet for now, so he can do whatever he wants as long as he gets her the stones. He has his own agenda in all this. After all, unlike Scarlet Angel, Shang Chi is a native of this planet.”

“So he wants to take over the world and play dictator?” Dr. Strange said. “But that also means that we can’t kill or subdue him. Once this Scarlet Angel finds out about it, she can descend herself.”

“Exactly,” Alex nodded. “That’s where I come in. I can help you hold Scarlet Angel back, allowing you to deal with Shang Chi freely.”

“And what are your conditions?” Emma asked. “No offense, but you don’t really seem like the philanthropist kind of guy.”

“None taken, Miss Frost,” Alex gave her a flirty smile. “My demand is simple, really. I want to take over this planet.”

“As I expected,” Dr. Strange sighed. “We refuse, please return to your Gaia Federation. We will not be enslaving ourselves to a dictator in exchange for protection against another dictator.”

“Such impatience, Strange. You should learn to wait every once in a while,” Alex said with a knowing smile, sending chills down the man’s spine.

‘Was he spying on our previous meeting regarding Shang Chi …’

Alex continued, “While I want this planet to join my Gaia Federation, I will not be enslaving anyone. Life for people in the Gaia Federation is as normal as anywhere else. I will bring you all into the Gaia Cluster with our planetary shielding technology. It will be configured to your specific multiversal code so that the only entities that can enter your planet are the ones that originate from your specific universe. I’m not going to imprison any of you, and you can leave the planet whenever you want. As long as the planet itself isn’t affected, I don’t give a fuck.”

“So you are aware of how interacting with our multiversal counterparts without the correct protections can be very problematic …” Dr. Strange spoke.

“I’m building the foundation of a multiversal empire, Doctor,” Alex smiled maniacally. “Such trivialities are a given.”

“We need time to discuss this amongst ourselves. I hope you can understand,” Tony Stark said.

“No worries. You have a week to come to a decision,” Alex said. “After that, the decision won’t be yours to make anymore.” His threat was clear as day to anyone. “I will give you a point of contact in case you have anything you need to ask me. For that, I would like to borrow Miss Frost for a moment, do you mind?”

The mutant lady shared a look with the others in the room before nodding, “Sure.”

Everyone knew that there wasn’t much choice involved in the current situation. After this, Apex instantly kidnapped and subdued one of their strongest without the slightest resistance, they knew that they were out of their depth.