34 Planning

"You can't seriously be thinking of making the whole planet a hostage just to get your own mutant nation in this situation. If Earth falls, you fall with it too." The president of the USA said in a loud and angry voice.

Raven Darkholme, aka Mystique sitting opposite the president and his entourage of military generals and lawmakers, replied without missing a beat, "You think so? What if we teleport away? Or just hide? Better yet, get control of an attacking ship and take away the mutant population and leave Earth?"

The frowns on the faces of the old men were not even hidden. One of the generals even stood up furiously and shouted, "You will abandon your country and planet just to run away like rats? This is why we can never get along with your kind!"

Magneto who was playing with a metal ball floating over his palms turned to look at the general. The moment he laid his eyes on the general, the old man shut his mouth and sat down.

"It is awfully convenient that we became a part of your nation and planet only after you felt the danger and need our powers to protect your sorry asses. Mutants are not your soldiers to command as you like and throw away when not needed. Give us the nation of Genosha and we will fight alongside you against the invaders."

Magneto's tone of voice didn't leave any room for negotiations. It was an ultimatum and not a discussion. Everyone in the room understood this and there was a sudden silence except the sound of the metal ball swishing against the air over Magneto's palm.

The X-men who were also sitting on the mutant's side of the table looked uncomfortable with how the negotiations were progressing but they didn't speak. They were there just to show a united front in front of the government.

Magneto and Charles Xavier had come to some sort of agreement behind closed doors and Charles had handed over the lead for this negotiation to Magneto. So, even if they disagreed with holding the world hostage to get what they wanted, they kept quiet. They weren't X-men here, they were just a group of mutants.

"Say if we agree to your conditions, can you guarantee that you will fight for us?" It was General Ross who spoke this time.

"No." Magneto's voice once again brought silence to the room. "We will not be fighting for you. We will be fighting against the invaders who are invading the planet that 'we' share between humans and mutants. Don't have fantasies of ordering around mutants to be your meat shields. We will fight but on our own terms."

The verbal back and forth went on for a very long time. The president and his entourage were still skeptical about the alien invasion which had no other proof than some monk from India or Tibet just divining it or some bullshit magic thing. And they didn't even know the size of said invasion.

If it was possible that the superheroes like the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, who were agreeable with the government, could stop said invasion on their own then they didn't have to agree to the conditions of the mutants. They wanted to drag the negotiations until they had any form of confirmation.

But the mutants threw a curve ball at them by suddenly uniting and sending Magneto as the lead negotiator. Unlike the X-men and Professor X who had been made use of before by using moral dilemmas and principles, Magneto simply didn't give a shit.

Humans needed the mutants to protect them, it wasn't the other way around. All the initiative in the negotiation was held firmly in Magneto's hands. And when the only card the government could play became unusable, they had to fold and agree to the demands of an internationally recognized mutant nation on the island of Genosha.

They could not even prepare countermeasures against the mutants who had seemingly united all of a sudden. They simply didn't have the time to be fighting within the planet when an outside threat was fast approaching.

The very next day, the mutant nation of Genosha was recognized by the USA as a new independent nation. This shocked and angered many but for the mutants, it was a monumental achievement. Now, they could all have a place they could call their own, where mutants could live without the threat of persecution.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

It was a week after the alert about Thanos' imminent arrival had been sent out to all the high-level personnel in the world. The heroes were doing their own preparations and so were the governments. But on this day, Adam Warlock called upon all the heroes on Earth to fight against the invaders.

The Fantastic Four, Avengers, Black Panther from Wakanda, Namor from Atlantis, and all kinds of heroes gathered together in the open space of the newly made Avengers compound. Representatives of the mutants were present as well.

There were two dozen or more heroes present at the moment. If there was more time there might be more but they couldn't wait long. And even then, not every hero was going to go fight in space. They had to have others present to fight anyone who would attack Earth.

So, Adam created a strike team first. It was a team made up of the heaviest hitters. Adam himself, Hulk, Thor, Dr. Strange, The Thing, Jean Grey, Silver Surfer, and Blue Marvel who had come out of retirement due to the crisis were the main attack team. Reed Richards and Tony Stark were added to the team for tech support and any unexpected situations.

This team would be responsible for attacking Thanos himself and his ship. Another team led by Magneto would be responsible for destroying as many alien ships as possible. And the rest of the heroes and the mutants would be on standby on Earth to be dispatched by Captain America at any time, should the attack reach Earth.

Savant sat at the side with Vaman, listening to the ongoing strategy meeting. "You and Rudra are on the second team with Magneto?" Savant asked Vaman.

"Yeah. Rudra must be giddy knowing that he can destroy to his heart's content. I'd personally rather be on Earth with Sarjak and man the defensive position. What about you?" Vaman replied impassively.

"Me? I'll just stay far away from the battlefield. I'm just an ordinary person after all." Savant was casual with his standard reply.

"Yeah, right! I'd have really believed you if Master had not told me about your recent acquisition of tremendous power. He says you are probably equal to the Sages in power levels now." Vaman exposed Savant's lies with a smirk.

"Damn those Sages and their unnatural cosmic awareness. Who else did Atri tell my secrets to?" Savant frowned. He didn't intend to hide it forever but now was not the time to reveal his powers.

Vaman shook his head, "No one. Master only told me and I'm under oath never to tell another soul. So, don't worry. But what is your power? How strong are you exactly?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I haven't had the time to test it fully with all the moving and preparations I had to do this week. But I have a feeling that I will know soon." Savant gave a vague answer. Vaman only nodded. He was used to vague answers and ignoring them.

"They're calling me. I'll be off then, you take care. Stay safe, Savant." Vaman left after almost planting a death flag for himself.

They were handing out special suits designed by Reed and Tony for people who can't breathe or fly in outer space. For extra measure, Vaman and Dr. Strange had also cast magic on them insuring the survivability of everyone in space for some time.

When everyone was prepared, Adam took the two stones in his hands. He raised the hand with the space stone and a portal opened up in the vast expanse of darkness that could be seen on the other side. Right after that, a large fleet of spaceships could be seen coming out of space jumps in the distance.

"Get ready. The first portal will lead to the main ship of Thanos, and the other portals will lead you inside some of the larger ships. Try to take over the ships and use them against the enemies. Now, charge in!" With Adam's words, multiple portals opened up with the scenes of the ships' insides clearly visible.

One by one the heroes charged in, and the ones who were supposed to guard Earth were also being dispatched to strategic locations. Savant took it all in still in deep thought.

From what he could see in the portal, he was sure that the heroes would be able to stop most of the Chitauri ships. But he was sure that a few will definitely escape the net and arrive on Earth.

From what he knew about Thanos, he also guessed that there should already be a vanguard team fast approaching Earth. Savant speculated that this team would be led by at least one of the Black Order, Thanos' generals.

Savant was questioning himself. Knowing what he knew, should he let it play out a bit before helping out? External pressure is an immediate necessity for Earth if it wants to be united. There is no way that humans and mutants would co-exist if there is nothing forcing them.

It's not even about the humans and mutants. Just humans among each other are not united as a species. Ethnicity, color, nationality, religion, politics, and all other divisions that exist on Earth can be blurred if looked far enough from Earth.

And this invasion can be that push to let humans go out into space and look back at themselves. But Savant was hesitating over the question if it is okay to sacrifice innocent lives to push humans to greater heights.

Hours went by and Savant just sat there, pondering over the dilemma. While he was thinking, a part of his mind was also listening in on all the conversations among the heroes as well as ordinary people all over the world.

There were large spaceships that had been spotted appearing out of thin air at the edge of the solar system. The heroes were in a tense state. Ordinary people who were unaware of all that was happening were walking about without worries. But disaster alerts were being sent out everywhere asking for people to take shelter.

In Savant's mind, the Void which had been quietly waiting for its power to return could also feel the negative emotions rising and falling within Savant. It had felt similar things once earlier as well. It was as if a companion of the same kind was calling out to it.

But just like last time, the negative emotions quickly subsided and the Void went back to waiting. The Void was constantly feeling weakened in the weird prison. It was as if something in this prison was sucking away at its powers. It couldn't wait for Robert to turn into Sentry.

Right as the negative emotions subsided, Savant found his clarity. Sacrifices are a part of any civilization's progress. But it can only be a sacrifice when one fights voluntarily. Innocent people dying against an opponent that they are far outmatched against is nothing but a massacre.

He can let people die for humanity but those deaths should not be in vain. As his thoughts cleared up, he could sense the information coming off the space as the ships neared the moon's orbit. Except for the basics he knew about, most of the information coming off the ships was incomprehensible.

The knowledge used to make those ships was far more advanced than what he had learned so far. But, it was fundamentally based on the same scientific theories he had learned, so Savant could figure out the information slowly. Right now, he needed to do something else.

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Need more stones.