Discussions Needed
Asgard
"So, they managed to rebuild themselves?"
"They managed to do that, Father."
In one of the palace chamber, Odin was having a conversation with Thor. Needless to say, Odin was happy and relieved that Thor didn't decided to bash the Wolkenritter like when he bashed a Frost Giant during Thor's last visit on Jotunheim.
"So, what should we do, Father?" Asked Thor.
"You're the future king of Asgard, Thor. Why don't you make the decision?" Replied Odin.
"Well…" Thor rubbed his beard for a while. "…first we need to find out just how big the influence the Belkan left to STAB and what kind. Is STAB a conquering warlord like the Belkan, or do they learn the mistakes of their ancestors and changed their way? Fury told me that it's the latter, but he warned me that his source came from the organization itself and asked if I can confirm it myself."
"Believing the other side while also ready for a sham. Wise decision."
"Second, STAB has been operating on Earth for several times. Sometimes picking up talented individuals; Midgardians like Graham, Takamachi, and Yagami are only three of them. All of their operations were done without consent of either the local government or SHIELD. I can tolerate the fact that they didn't tell us, that sometimes happen. But the locals?" Thor shook his head.
"You said that as if we never did that."
"Well, it's not our fault they didn't bother to write it down or no one believe them."
Odin and Thor laughed at the memory.
"Well, anyway. We need to make sure that STAB get the message that they can't no longer act whatever they want on Earth or any other Realms now. The Nine Realms are under Asgard's protection, and if they want to do something here, then they need to get our permission. The exception is Midgard, and that's because we can…somewhat…trust them to not endangered their own world." Said Thor with a little bit uncertainty on the last part.
"I have a feeling that you have a first-hand experience on the last part." Said Odin concerned.
"Sometimes, their effort to defend themselves can inadventally endangered themselves."
Holographic Projection Room (Exact Location Classified)
Inside the dark room that he used to contact them after the Incident, Fury was having a conversation with the World Security Council. From their tones, Fury could guess that the Council were still neutral in the negotiation between SHIELD, Asgard, and the TSAB. While they didn't like the fact that Asgard involved themselves in the negotiation, they also realized that the nature of the TSAB mean that having Asgard involved was quite logical.
"Have we managed to send the message to STAB that we don't want them on Earth without permission?" Asked Councilman Yen.
Fury had to admit one of their redeeming factor was that the Council also agreed that "STAB" is better than "TSAB".
"While I have, I am not sure whether or not they will get it. Obviously, politicians will be involved and we all know how…annoying politicians are. And even if they get the message, I am sure there will be people who don't care about that." Replied Fury.
"They better be. Independence and sovereignty are two things that our ancestors have fought for generations. Globalization makes breaching them kind of…tolerable since we know each other and if the reason is good. And even then, we have standards. STAB, we know nothing about them, and even if their reasons are benign, well we have the United States as example." Said Councilman Singh.
"Thank you so much, Councilman Singh." Replied Councilman Rockwell.
"Now, now, we're not here to have a fight between us." Said Secretary Alexander Pierce. "To change the subject, what if we discuss about what should we do with these two?"
Pierce then showed two holographic photos of Nanoha and Hayate. Under the photos were bios of the two Earth-born mages. For Nanoha though there were several additions. One of them was the list of her family.
"These mages were born on Earth and recruited by STAB when we didn't know about their existence yet. Consultant Graham told us that the two Japanese and him are not the only Earth-born members of STAB." Explained Pierce.
"I don't know about Japanese Constitution, but I am sure this could be count as treason, right?" Said Councilwoman Hawley.
"Don't know. One thing for certain is that they will be in big trouble if the Japanese Government caught a wind of this." Replied Fury. "But let's discuss that later. One thing for sure is that the more Earth-born members STAB put in their new embassy, the more advantage that we have."
"I agree with the Director." Said Councilman Gideon Malick. "If they were born on Earth and then recruited by STAB, then the roots are still strong in them."
"In English, please?" Asked Rockwell.
"They maybe work for STAB, but they still view Earth as their home. I remember Ms. Takamachi cried when she visited the Incident Monument." Explain Fury.
After saying that, the Council started to have a conversation between themselves, leaving Fury alone. Then, they stopped their conversation and resumed their previous act.
"If what you say is true, in which I believe you, then that means we can draw sympathy from Earth-born STAB members. One of the proposal is a joint operation in dealing with magical artifact, right?" Asked Pierce.
"Correct, Mr. Secretary."
"Then we want you to talk to STAB and tell them that we agree with the proposal. Tell them as well that we work better with Earth-born members as there are less culture clash."
TSAB Headquarters
Lindy really wished that she could plugged her ears at this moment. Unfortunately, it would be a poor conduct and thus she decided not to.
When she returned to the HQ and gave her reports about the negotiation, let's just say when she reached the part about the Asgardians, the flood broke the dam.
"Are you trying to say that the Asgardians were responsible for the fall of the Belkan Empire?" Asked an admiral with a rather loud tone.
"Yes, that's what I say. They told that to me directly." Answered Lindy.
"And you just believe them?"
"Come on, now. What the Asgardians will get from that claim? Nothing! They have no reason to claim that unless it's the truth." Retorted a Ground Force general.
"What about the fact that it's a good intimidation to us? The Belkan Empire was one of the mightiest civilization that ever exist in the Dimensional Space. Its rivals were either subjugated or hold the Belkan at their doorstep. They managed to create several Lost Logia that even today we haven't figured out how they work. If some civilization managed to cause the Empire to collapse, then we can calculate how strong they are."
"The Asgardians managed to cause the collapse of the Belkan Empire by destroying Belka itself, not by conquering it."
"And that one is an intimidation as well. They…"
Lindy, Chrono, Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate, massaged their foreheads, waiting for the debate to ceased. They were the unlucky members of the diplomatic party that were requested to attend the meeting. Those that weren't selected went back to their branches with the exception of Teana who simply waited at another room.
"Calm down! Calm down!" Shouted Crowbel. After several shouts, the debate was over. "Alright, let's do this nice and slowly. Chief Librarian Scrya, what can you tell about the Asgardians?"
"Yes, Ma'am." Replied Yuuno through the monitor. "Asgardian is a race that inhibited a realm called Asgard. Asgardians served as the protectors of the Nine Realms at the Yggdrasil nimbus."
"If I am not wrong, the Asgardians, Nine Realms, and Yggdrasil are stuffs of myth, right?" Asked Kiel.
"Not necessarily. The Norse Mythology was created when Earthling still believe about things that have been scientifically proven impossible. It's possible that when the Asgardians shared the knowledge with Earthlings, the latter believed that only nine worlds exist, the Asgardians are gods, and Yggdrasil is a literal tree."
"Is there a proof about Asgard-Belkan War?" Asked the previous navy admiral.
"I do not find any evidence about the war. However, when I inspect the surviving records about Belkan conquest of the worlds, the records only tell either swift conquest or conquest that take as long as three generations before succeed. It's possible that as part of propaganda, in which other records support this claim, the Belkan only released the stories of their conquest when they done conquering said world, giving the image of unstoppable juggernaut that can only be delayed. The Belkan was incapable of conquering even one of the Nine Realms and got their Saint King captured. It's small wonder that they don't want to release any information about the war. I also found a record of fleets that disappear from history and the same thing with Saint King Franz Hegenberg."
The officers from various branches of the TSAB started to have a discussion among themselves. Who would have thought that the negotiation with former Non-Administrated World #97, now christened Special World #1, would bring a big change in history?
Asgard
Thor was currently walking through the prison. After several minutes, he finally reached his destination; the cell of his brother.
"Ah, brother. What brings you here?" Asked Loki who stopped reading his book.
"I am just wanting to make sure that you didn't make any escape attempt like the last time." Said Thor coldly.
"Oh, really? Not to informed me how eventful Midgard currently is?" Loki's reply caused Thor's eyes to became wide for a moment.
"How did you know about that?"
"I have my way. So, tell me, do you managed to told those mortals who the boss is?"
"I did no such thing, Loki. I merely told the successors of the Belkan that their matters on Earth will involve something bigger than they've known before."
"Isn't that the same thing, only that you put it in a different way?"
"I am not going to play words with you, Loki. I still have remembered the unpleasantness despite the fact that it was two hundred years ago."
Loki laughed a little at the memory, which makes Thor look unamused.
"You know, maybe I should visit your next meeting that tell the mortals that ants don't have business with boots."
"And how are you going to do that?" Asked Thor, intending to amused Loki for a moment.
"Like this."
Loki suddenly disappear, which wasn't that surprising since he could make an illusion of himself. Thor started to look around the cell. However, he started to became worried and more worried with the fact that he couldn't even find a hair of his brother. Realizing that Loki might trying to escape, Thor immediately ran towards the nearest post.
"Guards! Guards!"
Classified Location
Graham was walking through the corridor with several files in hand when he saw Fury. The look on his face and the cup o' joe in his hand revealed that his conversation with the World Security Council wasn't a pleasant one. This didn't surprised Graham since he had his own share dealing with politicians.
Why can't they just do something useful?
"So, I get it that it doesn't end well?" Asked Graham who received a glare from Fury.
"I need everything you know about the Bureau. Everything." Said Fury with heavy emphasis on the last part.
"You said that as if you trust me."
Something Graham has learned since he became one of SHIELD's consultant was that the number of people that Fury trust can be counted by hands. He knew that he wasn't one of them since he was "compromised" when he joined the TSAB.
While this kind of act was commendable in the world of espionage, Graham was afraid that Fury's going to pay the price of trusting too little.
"I better have information that I can filter than none at all at this moment." Replied Fury.
"Alright, alright. What do you want to know?" Asked Graham.
"Will STAB agree with the weapon trade?"
"The T…I mean STAB has never do anything close to trading with outside party."
"What? STAB's the only successor of the Belkan Empire? I find it hard to believe."
"No, it isn't. It's just that other successors are less successful than STAB. When the Bureau made contact with them, they weren't in an exactly good shape to trade and still recovering from the Reunification War. Long story short, several aids and helping them solving Lost Logia problems, they joined STAB."
"I see."
"Though I can guarantee that the Ground Forces will play their cards to make sure that the trade agreement is ratified."
"Oh?"
"Just like our military, the branches of STAB can work together, but there's friction between them. The majority of high-ranking mages go to three branches; Air Force, Navy, and Executive Officers, more known as Enforcers. This makes huge rivalry between the first two branches with the Ground Force, who usually get the leftover. The Enforcers avoided this since the nature of their work is well known and it's not strange for other branches to have an Enforcer attached to their group, provided there's a case that needed those branch help."
"There is a reason on why those two have the most high-ranking mages."
"Correct. The Air Force has a strict requirement to be accepted, which means usually only high-ranking mages that can enter. The Navy's mages are usually posted at a patrolling ship, making transferring them from one place to another easier. The Ground Force's mages on the other hand are posted at a planet. Said planet is Administrated World which is more or less as peaceful as Iceland. Which means high-ranking mages aren't usually needed. Then there's the fact that personnel transfer in Ground Force has more bureaucratic obstacles compared to the Navy and surprisingly Air Force."
"That's recipe for rivalry." Commented Fury with a whistle. "How this make the Ground Forces want the trade agreement to be ratified?"
"As you know, the Bureau doesn't employ mass-based weapons because they can't be set on stun. Which means the fighter personnel of the Bureau is limited to mages. This…doesn't give a good image since it makes the fighter role looks, and perhaps really is, discriminatory to non-mages. STAB has staunch policies against any kind of discrimination. If they can get a sufficient number of Night-Night Guns, then they can say goodbye to the discrimination, which also give them a win in PR department. The Ground Force will be the most affected since the Navy sit back in their ships and the Air Force fighters need to be able to fly, which means mage. Also…well, the term 'Chair Force' is also used by other branches."
"I can understand the pilots. But the flying mages?"
"Eh, we're just incapable of making good derogatory for them."
After walking for several minutes, both of them arrived in front of an elevator. Fury pressed a button and the two of them waited. When it arrived, they enter the elevator. Inside, Fury pressed one of the buttons while Graham pressed a different one.
"The Night-Night Gun is merely a prototype of a new type of weapon. When trade can be established with STAB, I am sure the new type will be ready." Said Fury.
"So, the new weapons and the ammo for devices and mana cartridges, huh? Sounds good to me. What's the weapon will be called?" Asked Graham.
"I heard that they will call it ICER; Incapacitating Cartridge Emitting Railgun."
TSAB Headquarters
After several discussions about the Asgardians and other stuffs, the TSAB was about to started a new type of proposal.
"So, I heard that Director Fury gave you a proposal for trade. It consists of usual trading goods like clothes, books, food, and others. While they're almost certainly will be ratified, the most glaring is the weapon trade; devices and cartridges from us and Night-Night Gun and the ammo from them." Said Phils.
"Indeed. Director Fury has given us several Night-Night Guns and the ammunition for testing. So far, the results are satisfying." Replied Lindy who then showed several videos.
The videos showed a TSAB researcher firing Night-Night Gun at a volunteer. Each video shows a different volunteer; children, teenagers, adults, and in two cases, Subaru and Shamal; cyborg and artificial lifeform respectively.
In the video, the researcher shot the volunteer one time. This caused the latter to got knocked out and fell to the floor immediately. The only exceptions were Subaru, which while she also fell to the floor, still conscious albeit a little and Shamal.
"The results showed that the Night-Night ammo caused an immediate unconsciousness on the volunteers. Corporal Subaru Nakajima managed to stay awake due to her enhanced immunity as cyborg. However, her immunity is not strong enough to prevent her from being incapacitated and the chemical compound used on Night-Night ammo makes it unlikely her body will be able to upgraded the immunity. Medical Master Shamal's unique…nature makes her almost immune to Night-Night ammo. However, she felt numbed on her right palm and can hardly move her fingers, which is where she got hit. This only last for a minute." Explained Lindy.
The officers in the room look at the videos with intrigued looks. While the TSAB possessed their own tranquilizer weapons and other non-magical stun weapons, they aren't as effective as the Night-Night Gun. Even Lindy was surprised by the effectiveness of Night-Night Gun.
"Well, I say that we should ratified the weapon trade as well." Said the Ground Force general. "If we managed to attain a large number of this 'Night-Night Weapons' then we can bolster the number of our fighter personnel since it's no longer limited to mages."
"But we're going to hand technology that might cause some social problems with its introduction. Moreover, we have no need for more personnel." Replied the Navy admiral.
"Only the Navy and the Air Force that don't need more since the former operated ships and the latter need to be able to fly to be non-support personnel. The Ground Force on the other hand usually has manpower problem. The average quality of our mages is…mediocre to say the least if we compared them with Navy or Air Force's. If we can't get better quality, then at least we get more quantity. Besides, the devices and cartridges required the users to be mage, which is rare on Special World #1."
"While they are rare, two of our Aces came from that world and on the same island no less. Because SHIELD jurisdiction covered the entire Special World, then that means they have a high chance of finding a potential Ace."
"But for the Ace of Aces and the Walking Lost Logia to be how they are today, they required training methods and facilities that only us who have them. Then there's the fact that former Admiral Gil Graham is not exactly good with practicing magic and Major Genya Nakajima is only a C-rank."
"While Gil Graham on the other hand can supported two familiars that can give a B-rank mage a run for his money, there is a point with Major Nakajima."
"They realize that we're here, aren't they?" Asked Nanoha.
"I am not sure they care about that." Replied Hayate.
"OK. Ceased the discussion please." Said Crowbel. "Now that we have some of the benefits and the harms in this trade between SHIELD and the TSAB, I believe it's time to discuss more about the procedures of the trade to minimize the harms."
With that, the discussion between the TSAB officers continued.
Avengers Tower
Tony was checking the progress of Suzuka's experiments. From his tablet, he could see that slowly but steady, it made the wanted results.
"Damn it."
Tony heard that and turned his head to Suzuka. She was sitting on the floor with a laptop in front of her. He couldn't see what button she pushed, but considering she cursed and pressed repeatedly, it might be a backspace.
"Something's wrong?" Asked Tony.
Suzuka diverted her attention from her works and saw Tony.
"Nothing, Boss. Just some mistakes." Replied Suzuka.
"I see." Tony took a glass of scotch and had a sip. "What are you going to do with it anyway?"
"Well, first I am going to patented it. I know since I am working for Stark Industries, most of it are going to your pockets. But I don't care much about money. The reason is so that no one can steal the credit. Then I think I am going to give it to Nanoha. It's thanks to her, Fate, and Hayate that I can make this."
"She already has one if I am not mistaken. Also, why her and not the other two?"
"She already has one indeed. But I heard her daughter…"
Suzuka's stopped talking when she heard Tony's coughing. She stood up and approached her boss.
"Hey, you're OK, Tony?" Asked Suzuka.
"Yeah, don't worry. Just, surprised that someone as young as her already has a daughter." Replied Tony who put down his glass.
"Don't worry, I heard that she adopted one."
"…she won't be another Loki, right?"
"I know Nanoha. She's not going to let Vivio becomes another Loki." Suzuka let out a small laugh.
Answers to some reviews:
edboy4926: Sorry. But Ultron will still be evil.
IJN Zuikaku: Three problems; First, the Battle of New York is already over. Second, she will prefer SHIELD over the TSAB since the former is at least from the same planet. Third, this is Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Cy Man: I am not sure Nanoha and Hayate will be happy with the fact that a group that has a connection with the Nazi is hellbent on conquering Earth. Heck, it won't be surprising that both of them go AWOL and returned to Earth.
Jujube: Hey, thanks. Always waiting for someone who can give constructive review.
OK, first off, Nanoha is currently not in a good mood to put it lightly. She's not there when the Chitauri invaded New York and I have seen that kind of situation can cause guilt it someone. Don't worry, as of this chapter she already calmed down. Though it's best not to mention the Battle of New York anywhere near Nanoha or Hayate.
Also, this is currently the chance of MCU to shine. The MGLN cast will have their chance, but not at this moment. The chapters were made to show that SHIELD is not something that the TSAB can just ignore like what they did with Japanese government during the events of Nanoha and A's.
Currently, SHIELD is NOT happy with what the TSAB has done until the moment they meet them. Currently, the TSAB is currently reaping what they sow.
To put it in perspective, the TSAB is like someone who tried to rescue someone else house from getting destroyed alongside the owner. SHIELD is the owner of the house who is NOT HAPPY that the TSAB doesn't even have a decency to warned him that he's in danger. In this situation, SHIELD doesn't care about the reasons for not telling them; the TSAB doesn't tell them, well some of the fault is at them. And the TSAB (well, actually the cast), know that SHIELD has a point so they sit back while waiting for SHIELD to finally satisfied lecturing them.
And the chapter is done.
If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.
Review please!