"We'll do it," Reed said. "But we have—"
"Tu tut tut…" Alex raised a finger. "My offer was extended to your wife. The two of you are, at best, collateral. She's the real powerhouse that I want serving under me."
Reed swallowed his words, glancing at Susan, who was sporting a helpless expression on her face.
"What's with this collar-thingy?" She asked him before hooking her finger through the choker and tugging it for emphasis.
"Monitoring method," Alex said. "And a privileged access to Gaia's systems on this planet. She doesn't have a neural interface, so you will have to talk to her normally."
"Do they also get it?" She asked, refraining from testing things right now.
"Naturally, no. You will be the sole authority here, supervised by Gaia, of course. They will have what authority you give them through Gaia. But only once we have things under control."
"As Reed said, there are conditions to my acceptance," Susan said.
"Do you truly think you are in any place to make demands of me?" Alex asked. "Do you think it will be difficult for me to choose the next person I see and give them your position?"
"Be as it may," she said. "If you want me to sincerely work for you, certain demands must be met."
Alex didn't respond for a few seconds, looking at her with a somewhat scrutinizing look. Despite the intimidation factor from before, she didn't back down and continued looking at him with a hint of defiance in her eyes.
"Fine," Alex decided to relent. An obedient superhero, especially one as smart as Susan, was far better than a vengeful one.
The best proof of that was the current state of Earth-65. After Alex's somewhat coercive acquisition, due to his placing the right people in positions of power, the rest naturally fell in line. No brewing resistance forces were planning to act against him, nor were there any vocal voices of discontent among the heroes regarding his rule. After almost half a decade on Earth-65, they had all come to accept the new situation. Despite some disgruntled voices, due to Alex's choice of leaders, namely Cindy, Emma Frost, and Luna Maximoff, there was no real discontent within any major group. If anything, the support for his regimen was only increasing as time went on, and the three competent women worked with Gaia's support to bring everything under control.
"You have to let me use Gaia's resources to quell the global unrest. The primary forces of Hydra have died, but there are plenty of their remnants planning covert means of vengeance."
"Way ahead of you," Alex said. "Gaia is already locating all of their remnants. Global stability is in my best interests as well."
"You cannot directly assassinate world leaders…" She said. "We have to follow a gradual process to get people in line."
"Sure," Alex shrugged. "Before you continue, let me stop you. I'm not going to do anything here. You are."
"I don't follow."
"Once you accept, you will be the one with the highest authority on this planet. I will communicate with you through Gaia and have you implement my policies through her directives. I have no plans to be a hands-on boss." His words made Susan pause as she started pondering her following words.
"…Can I appeal?" She asked.
"Appeal to who? I'm the highest authority."
"What if I don't agree with Gaia's means of implementation? What stops her from acting contrary to my commands?"
"Gaia is going to follow your commands here. Period," Alex said. "The only time that won't happen is if those directives come directly from me. If you don't agree to something of that sort, you may appeal to Gaia, and I will talk to you directly."
"What if I decide not to consolidate the world at all?" Susan asked, frowning as she realized the freedom that she possessed.
"Then I'll take matters into my own hands," Alex said. "Massacre, coercion, genocide. Nothing is off the table when I take over things. Ask Gaia about my historical means of conquest later."
"What about the X-Men and Inhuman nation?" She asked. "Moreover, the other heroes. If I suddenly rise to this kind of power, they won't stand still."
"That much, I'll be taking care of. We'll be paying all of the major factions a visit after this. If you are interested, you may join us."
"I believe that this time would be better spent strategizing," she said. "I can't exactly drop into the White House and declare myself the next President, can I?"
"Considering that almost all of the Cabinet comprises Hydra, half of whom died a few days ago, I think you might as well waltz into the White House. Talking to Stark first would be a better option. His influence should definitely help in stabilizing things."
"Can't Reed be President?" Susan asked. "Let alone the world, I doubt I can even run the country successfully."
"Sure," Alex shrugged. "I don't care. Gaia's directives will be made directly to you. If you want to delegate, feel free."
"There's no need, Sue," the man said. "I believe that you will be able to handle everything very well. I'm just the scientist here. You are the true mind behind our group."
"…"
"By the way," Alex said, suddenly turning stern. "Among the things I implement, there will naturally be stuff that you might be unwilling to see. Things like transporting prisoners off-world. Or a lower bar for the death penalty. While you can appeal to me, if you aren't able to convince me of a better solution, you will have to implement my policies. Whether you like it or not."
His words prompted her to think deeply, pressing her lips together.
"So? Interested?" Alex asked after a few seconds.
"Do I even have a choice?"
"Your choices are between accepting my offer, dying, or obediently standing at the side as I take care of everything myself. For the third one, I will suppress your powers, and you can be on your way after wearing Gaia bracelets that will monitor you. Your brother's resurrection is based on the condition of you serving as my herald on this planet. Which means you'll be dead sooner or later anyway."
"…" Susan fell deep in her thoughts for a while, flinching a little when she felt Reed slip his hand into hers. Without even looking at him, a determined look appeared on her face. "I accept," she said. "For our family."
"Good enough for me," Alex treated her solemn declaration indifferently and shrugged. "Once I revive Johnny, there's no going back. You will be bound to my ship. Permanently."
"I won't go back on my words," she said.
"For your own good, I hope that's true," Alex said solemnly. "Step back."
"Is this really fine?" The woman asked, half in disbelief.
"Getting cold feet?" Alex asked.
"To revive someone from the dead… that violates so many taboos of existence itself."
"Violating reality isn't the big deal. It's who comes after you revive someone from the dead that is an issue."
"Meaning?"
"Dead people are all encompassed under the authority of Death herself—the cosmic manifestation of the concept of death. Many higher beings rely on Death's aspects to empower themselves, setting up specialized versions of the afterlife. Hell, Valhalla, Tartarus, Elysium, and countless others," he said. "Defying Death is far from enough. Once you bring someone back, you will incur the wrath of the Dimensional Lord that had authority over that person's soul, causing endless trouble. Luckily for us, these Dimensional Lords are all in a deep slumber. Whatever brought about this conjunction of Earths from across the multiverse also put these beings of untold power to sleep."
"How do these things compare to Galactus?" Reed asked.
"Incomparable," Alex said flatly. "Galactus is an entity that operates on a completely separate scale. Running into any one of these Dimensional Lords, a single thought would be enough to extinguish their entire existence. But Galactus doesn't act out of malice or desire. To Galactus, hunger is all that matters. These beings, however… Need I continue?"
"So we're good for now, but when these entities inevitably wake up…" Susan didn't complete her words.
"They will come after Johnny," Alex nodded. "Your options are to either get strong enough yourself or rely on someone who already possesses the confidence to stand against them."
"I understand," Susan left her doubts unsaid, accepting Alex's words at face value.
They didn't exchange any further words as Alex hummed and tapped into both the Soul and the Time Stones. Bringing them together within his soul, he cycled both their authorities together, conjoining them as the two stones worked in tandem to enhance each other.
Alex quickly searched for Johnny's soul inside the Soul Stone. Through his blood connection to the older Susan in front of him, it didn't take much longer for him to pinpoint it. What followed was the activation of the Time Stone to locate his remains and reanimate his body.
As the seconds passed, Alex burned through almost twenty thousand units of Bioenergy to mitigate the backlash of using the stones.
…
In New York City, within what used to be the Baxter Building before it was acquired by Hydra, there was a secret underground chamber that hadn't been touched. Inside was a coffin that had tens of tubes connected to it, pumping in an unknown fluid.
Inside the chamber, lay a body, frozen in a temperature that approached absolute zero. Yet inside, the scene was an odd one as the body started to gain a healthy flush, which shouldn't have been possible in such a cold environment. It was as if time itself was rewinding for the body, reversing all of the effects of being frozen in such a state for so long.
Suddenly, the dead body's eyes opened as it gasped, immediately panicking as the body was set on fire after inhaling the pure cold all around.
A blonde man quickly burst out of the coffin, immediately taking a powerful breath as his body temperature rose higher, slowly melting his surroundings.
***
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