Tanis indeed knew the location of the control room. Atlan could be considered a massive spaceship, and naturally, it had a control room.
She just didn't want to say because if outsiders knew, it would be terribly dangerous.
What if Deathstroke directly jumped Atlan into the sun?
But looking at the two heavily armed people, she knew she had no choice; her superpower was worth less than an ant in front of them.
Su Ming noticed her hesitation and immediately smiled, adding: "Rest assured, we firmly support you and your husband's decision to engage in armed struggle with the Kree People and resist to the end."
"But I think Asgard is quite nice..." Tanis stroked her child's head, held him tightly, and whispered.
Su Ming looked at the elevator's ceiling and sighed. Well, the couple had different attitudes, how was this discussion supposed to continue?
Although the Inhumans depending on Asgard was a good solution, it only worked for them. Strengthening Asgard's power was not in Su Ming's interest.
Atlan should obediently float in the sky and serve as a satellite for humanity!
However, from Asgard's standpoint, Hel stood with him; she also did not want Odin to become stronger, so this matter could be manipulated.
"Just in time, this here is the Eldest Princess of Asgard, Netherworld Goddess Hel, and she can now give you Asgard's response."
After speaking, Su Ming secretly gave Hel a look.
Hel really took on a princess's posture, using formal diplomatic language to refuse: "Asgard rejects your request for dependence."
Tanis looked at her toes: "But earlier you said Odin would agree..."
"That was Odin, but now that Odin has entered a long sleep, Asgard is ruled by the Mother of Gods and me. I represent Asgard in rejecting Atlan's proposal. We've just experienced an invasion and won't get involved in the Kree conflict again."
Hel spoke with seriousness, like an experienced diplomatic spokesperson. Indeed, her age suggested she was very experienced, but her only diplomatic method was knife and sword diplomacy.
Having witnessed Hel control the undead and read their memories, Tanis believed, this was the Nether God Hel.
Moreover, even if she was lying, the Inhumans couldn't risk offending the Netherworld Goddess, otherwise even living in Asgard would not be safe.
A trace of despair appeared on her face, but she quickly asked:
"Then what if Atlan descends to Earth?"
Su Ming cleared his throat, and his cloak lifted him off the ground, the black fabric moving without wind and rising high.
"As the Guardian of Earth and the Supreme Mage representing the Magic Side, I refuse your request. If Atlan descends, it means declaring war on the Earth Magical Realm and the Tenth Dimension. Trust me, the hundred billion demon army of the Lords of Hell is far scarier than the Kree People."
"Supreme Mage... never heard of it, but I know Atlantis once had warlocks. You don't look like a warlock in any way." Tanis seemed to have discovered a loophole, looking incredulous.
What kind of warlock fights with brute force and weapons?
Su Ming responded calmly, "It's simple, I said I'm a mage, those who didn't believe me were killed by me, so now everyone acknowledges it."
"Uh..."
Tanis was suddenly speechless. When real power stood before you and your life and death were at stake, was it hard to admit someone was a warlock?
Just like her current situation, she had no other choice.
Not only her but two of the Six Major Sects' paths were also blocked. Now, Atlan only had four choices.
Resist, surrender, wait, or flee.
Tanis contemplated; first, waiting was not an option. The Kree People were true to their word, and history had proven that.
Escaping was impossible too. They had killed so many innocents just to kidnap children and eliminate political enemies; she couldn't stoop so low with them.
It seemed like many choices, but she could actually only opt for the resistance faction of her husband.
She couldn't choose the surrender faction and continue being slave warriors for the Kree People, right?
The hard-won freedom of the Inhumans would become a joke if they surrendered now, erasing millions of years of struggle.
After figuring out her position, she sighed deeply; her only path had been charted by Deathstroke, what more could be said?
Everything was part of the opponent's calculations, leaving no choice.
She told the two men the location of the control room in resignation, and even took some blood from Deathstroke's hand to draw a rough map.
"No, this map is too simple. You say the control room is underground, but all the routes you gave are on the surface." Su Ming shook his head; only he could understand what this was.
She drew a circle connected behind by a winding thin line; knowledgeable people would know it's a route, where to turn from where, but those uninformed would think this was a woman drawing tadpoles.
The city was too unfamiliar to him and Hel, and the terrain didn't match. Tanis said something about turning from route 137 to the main road 756, then taking a shuttle from node 322 to node No. 21, and then...
Who the hell knew where that was?!
By now, the surface was probably in chaos, and it's questionable whether the road signs were still there.
Tanis fixed her clothes, the child was finally coaxed into sleep, and she realized the problem, she could point the way, but the two of them didn't know the path.
She couldn't help much in the combat, her optical superpower was rated highly because of its usefulness in technological development.
"Shall I get you a map first?" she asked softly.
Atlan was far less large than New York, but the population was denser, because there were no tourists, naturally there was no habit of mapping.
If you want detailed terrain, you can check it on the terminal, just find a place with energy.
The Kree's tech tree was somewhat skewed; they didn't have wireless communication technology.
Since they had Supreme Wisdom, which could span across stars, directly delivering commands accurately into every Kree's mind, there was naturally no need to fuss over wireless communication.
Thus, Inhumans who picked up Kree scraps similarly didn't have this technology, though some Psychics among them could transmit messages over long distances, but they were few.
Still looks like it's humans who lead on wireless communication, how many years till those satellites go up?
First military satellites, then developing into civilian use, when mobile phones are there, life would be much smoother.
The phone taken from DC was temporarily stored by Su Ming with the adjutant, the issue wasn't with communication technology, it's stuck on aerospace and satellite transfer tech, Su Ming could only wait to eat the meals made by Howard and Zola.
"Let's do it, the nearest place to check the terminal from here is where?"
"Underground there are some transport pod maintenance stations, it should be available there."
The elevator door opens, Tanis walks out first, after identifying the direction, heads to a section of the dark corridor.
This place feels like a subway tunnel, but the transport pod is a trackless vehicle, there's a discarded one not far from them, a transport pod fallen into the corridor due to lost energy.
They call it a pod, but to Su Ming, it feels like a super-sized capsule, and these corridors are like esophagus with capsules gliding suspendedly relying on special technology.
Naturally, if it suddenly loses energy, this thing crashes.
The pod before them had plunged its head into the ground, the front warped completely from collision, bodies limp out from shattered windows, looking grotesque in various shapes.
Not all Inhumans look human; before their superpowers are triggered, they indeed look like humans, but after, turning into monsters of any kind is no surprise, those who maintain human likeness post-trigger are fewer, generally higher-ranked.
Su Ming now saw heads shaped like cactus, or bodies shaped like pangolin.
The broken transport was filled with blood and limbs, these people didn't die peacefully, Su Ming glanced at Hel: "What did the pangolin say?"
Hel looked at him baffled, pursed her lips, pressed her hand on the pangolin's body, momentarily released with resignation.
"All he thought before dying was 'I don't want to die', that simple."
Su Ming sighed contentedly, nodded to Hel: "Thank you, you solved my long-standing confusion."
"???" Hel found Deathstroke's words hard to comprehend, previously gathered tons of useful intel, he showed no reaction, yet for trivial matters, he thanked her.
Just because of the pangolin? Asgard has those too, nothing special, right?
Meanwhile, Tanis gazes at a body lost in thought, silently shedding tears, Su Ming walks over, pulls out a sheet from his backpack and hands it to her.
"A friend?"
The Inhuman thrown out from the pod already shattered into pieces, even with superpowers, without combat experience often couldn't react to sudden situations.
Such injuries, except for Self-healing Ability Users, surely meant death.
"It's my brother, sobbing..." Tanis clutches the child tight, kneeling beside the body: "He must have come to see me."
"What was his power?" Su Ming glances at both ends of the corridor ensuring no one's attacking.
"He could absorb light, darkening the surrounding environment, sob, sob," Tanis caresses the body's face mournfully, constantly crying softly, the child seems a bit restless, kicks legs in her arms.
Su Ming thinks this power is decent, if developed to absorb all light of the Solar System, he should be a strategic weapon.
Sadly, died in a crash, optical power useless against strong impacts, probably before thrown out, he was torn into pieces by the warped carriage, died quite fast without suffering.
Su Ming raises his wrist to check the watch, about ten seconds later, he pats Tanis' shoulder:
"Stop crying, get up and lead the way, the more time you waste, the more people die, next time you might see your husband's body."
"You... you... are right..." Tanis stands up angry, but under the red singular eye's gaze, her momentum dissipated quickly, finally covered her face.
Hel stays indifferent following behind, she casually twists a piece from the shattered pod to play with, twisted the translucent strange material into a spiral, tossed it up and down in her hand, guessing the development to come.
Crying for the dead is wasting time, neither Deathstroke nor she cares, if Tanis fainted, Deathstroke should kill her, letting her read Tanis' memory.
No show today, Tanis didn't faint, she just wiped her face vigorously, looking much more determined.
Though she still looked back frequently, reluctantly viewed the body in the dark, her pace didn't stop, sobbing continued leading the way.