The War of Narratives
"… the number of fatal victims is still unknown…"
"… work is still ongoing in the area; there are reports of victims…"
"… a battle between heroes, or a war for power…"
"… is this what they asked for? People who are basically nuclear bombs fighting in our streets without caring whether civilians die or not. This is what they wanted, so now they have it…"
Adam kept switching channels on the television. Every time he heard the word victims, he made a slight gesture of discomfort. His expression was deeply confused as multiple thoughts crowded his mind.
"Victims?" he asked himself, his brow slightly furrowed. More than anyone else, he knew there had not been a single victim in that battle. In fact, they only started fighting once the last nearby civilian had been evacuated. That was the reason he still held a certain respect for Owen, even after exchanging punches with him.
"What are you planning…?" Adam murmured, before his attention was pulled away by Luke suddenly waking up.
Luke sat up immediately, his guard raised as he looked around, realizing he was no longer in the abandoned factory, but in a fairly normal house. He was lying on a leather couch. He also saw Jessica and Danny still unconscious nearby.
Then he noticed Adam, who turned off the television and looked at him.
"You're awake. They really hit you hard in the head," Adam said, wearing a calm, faint smile.
"You're… Doctor Brashear. You saved us? How?" Luke asked, confused, lightly touching his head, still feeling some lingering pain.
"Well, I was passing through the area after a long time and saw you, and mm… a man-to-man talk," Adam replied, a slightly strange but amused smile on his face.
Luke raised an eyebrow at that, then glanced at Jessica and Danny, relieved to see they were alright.
"That guy is a monster. I don't know if rescuing Matt is going to be easy," Luke said seriously.
Adam looked at him without saying much, then turned his gaze back to the dark television, lightly touching his chin. His eyes widened for a brief moment, as if something had suddenly clicked.
"I see. So that's it," he said, as if he had just realized something. A smile slowly formed on his face.
Luke looked at him in confusion, unsure of what he meant.
…
Owen was sitting down, watching television the same way Adam had been, switching from channel to channel and hearing the same things over and over.
Possible deaths… fights between heroes… neighborhood destruction… people beginning to reject the new registration law.
"Did you hire every television network?" Owen asked, glancing at Tony, who was pouring himself a glass of brandy.
"What? Of course not. I bought half of them, and the other half just jumped on the wave," Tony replied, with a mix of arrogance and amusement. "Besides, we're going to need them once the company is officially created, right?" he added as he sat down on a nearby couch, drink in hand.
Owen couldn't help nodding, admitting he had a point.
Wanda entered at that moment, carrying a folder of documents. She placed it in front of Owen before sitting beside him.
"These are the assets from Barnes' transfer," she said, her expression complicated. "Are you sure it's necessary to fight them?" she asked, clearly disagreeing.
"Fighting the heroes who started all of this and saved the world several times is the best way to show how stupid the law really is. And the more chaos and destruction we cause, the clearer it becomes that this fight could endanger the world just as much as the enemies we faced in the past," Owen explained, not even bothering to look at the papers, his expression calm.
"We're fighting our friends," Wanda said seriously, staring straight at him.
"We are. That's why we need to make sure we don't hurt them too much," Owen replied with a faintly amused smile.
Wanda rolled her eyes.
"Have the others already gone to do their jobs?" Owen asked.
"Yes. It shouldn't take long for the false information to start spreading," Wanda answered, her tone now resigned.
"To cause as much chaos as possible, we need to attract more players, right?" Nicolas said as he walked in, smiling with excitement.
"Did you take our little spy with you?" Owen asked when he saw him.
"Yes. By the way, I had to convince her on the way, since she didn't like her assignment. So I had to buy her a lot of candy. She'd better see a dentist later," Nicolas said, sitting down nearby.
Wanda let out a light laugh, while Tony looked at him like he was an idiot.
"What?" Nicolas asked.
"She asked to be sent on a mission," Owen said, clearly amused.
"What? She asked for it? Then why did she look so sad?" Nicolas asked, surprised.
"Idiot. She tricked you into buying her candy," Owen replied, looking at him like he deserved it.
…
"Steve, I found this girl in the perimeter," Sam said as he walked in, bringing Kamala with him. Her clothes were slightly dirty, her hair messy, and for some reason she had crumbs all over her mouth, wearing a truly tragic expression.
"It's Captain America," she said for a moment, a spark of excitement flashing in her eyes before she shook her head, forcing herself to focus and putting the tragic expression back on. "Captain, sir, you have to help the others, please," she said quickly, almost shouting in desperation.
Steve's expression turned serious immediately.
"They're… they're suffering," Kamala said.
…
"So you're that Reed Richards Tony keeps saying isn't as great as people think," Pietro said, standing right next to a large machine that kept firing bursts of energy, almost like some kind of portal, beside the man working at a nearby computer.
"How did you get in?" Reed asked, his expression somewhat serious as he casually moved a hand toward a nearby instrument.
"Uh, through the window, basically…"
"Running in a straight line up a wall at high speed should be impossible unless you had some kind of anti-slip or anti-friction mechanism supporting your steps. Even then, you'd need a way to counter your own weight pushing downward as you move. Perhaps by switching to running around the building, using cracks and constant positional adjustments…," Reed began, fully diving into his analysis.
"Ah… no. Uh… well, he just carried me," Pietro said, pointing outside, where War Machine was hovering slightly in front of the window.
That left Reed silent for a moment.
"…Yeah. That's easier," he said at last, shaking his head. "So what does V.I.T.A.E need from me?" he asked seriously.
"Well, you're already on the superhuman registry after getting your powers in space, right?" Pietro asked with a crooked smile.
Reed looked at him, his expression turning serious immediately.
…
"I've never been in another country before. Honestly, not even another continent. Do you know how crazy this is? It's really exciting. Though I'd love to visit a lot of places, Africa has a lot of culture," Peter talked nonstop as they moved across an open stretch of land.
Walking beside him was a beautiful blonde woman, who glanced at him with a visibly tired expression, even though her job was, quite literally, to listen to people.
"…I mean, I think that could be some kind of trauma. I mean, I'm dressed like a spider, but I don't really like them, you know? But hey, that's what gave me my superpower. And you, how did you get yours? Maybe a diamond bit you? Or a telepath?" Peter continued without stopping.
"Could you… for a moment?" Emma said, looking genuinely exhausted from the trip.
"Oh, yeah, sorry," Peter replied, snapping his mouth shut and making an exaggerated gesture, as if zipping it closed.
Emma let out a small sigh, feeling slightly more relaxed, just as she noticed several people approaching them with spears in their hands.
"Wow, people still use spears in this day and age," Peter said immediately.
Emma shot him a sideways look, deeply regretting her decision to join Owen and V.I.T.A.E.