Mod Superhero - STUBBING AUG 17TH!

Chapter 7.85 - Immediate Aftermath

Despite Mod's display and the new position of the Dunamen ship, Earth's sovereignty was not decided on the moon.

Mod and the Chancellor spoke on the bridge of the ship. Three other ranking members of the crew were present, though they didn't participate. Mod assumed they were there as witnesses. Paragon was also present and added his own testimony when appropriate. Most of Paragon's superficial cuts had already healed, and a crewmember put his broken arm in a sling. He seemed to relax as the discussion went on.

Chancellor Creed explained that he didn't have the power to codify Earth's sovereignty. But when the ship was released, he would take a message back to Terradun, and from there the elders would deliberate. He affirmed that Mod's restraint and the lack of serious injury to the crew and the ship would help in Earth's favor.

The next several hours on the moon were spent explaining TINA's plans for the world. Creed and the other representatives had questions, and Mod took his time answering. Some of their questions were skeptical and even suspicious, but slowly their demeanor changed. They became curious and began asking more in-depth questions. Mod went over the plans with the patience of a schoolteacher, occasionally pointing from the six hundred page summary to the full plan.

It seemed the hardest part for them to accept was that TINA's plan was flexible. Not even she could think of everything, especially when it came to people. So flexibility was a necessity.

Mod conceded part of that point to Chancellor Creed. Mod said, "Humans are messy. Some of you think of us as children, and maybe that's not too far off the mark. We like to think that we've grown up, but we're still the same humans that gathered around fires and hunted with spears hundreds of thousands of years ago. Now we're trying to solve twenty-first century problems with prehistoric hardware. Maybe it wasn't fair to expect us to change so quickly."

Creed shifted in his chair. "What do you think, then?"

Mod replied, "I think this is a new era for us. I think we're just now coming into our own."

Even after all of their discussion, Creed didn't completely change his mind about Earth. That was fine. Humanity wouldn't change overnight. Neither would the Dunamen. And neither would one man.

But eventually the discussion turned toward getting the Dunamen ship back into orbit. They would not be allowed on Earth. A fleet of drones would escort them out of the solar system, and then the Dunamen would return to their homeworld. Creed assured Mod that he and the crew would go over TINA's plans more thoroughly on the journey back.

Unbeknownst to the Dunamen, those escort probes contained special payloads. TINA would use those probes to begin constructing defenses throughout the solar system. If the Dunamen decided to return in force, TINA would be ready for them.

~

While Mod was on the moon, TINA, Bastion, and the rest of the Resistance were hard at work across Earth.

All across the world, battles and skirmishes stopped—everywhere from Shian and Catalina to war-torn villages and crime-ridden neighborhoods. Tanks and planes were forcefully rerouted, their weapon systems disabled. Guns and knives dissolved in soldiers' hands. Drones and biomechs kept the peace. TINA's swarms were everywhere now, and anyone who did not agree to an immediate ceasefire was restrained.

For the first time in human civilization, Earth could say that it knew peace. Keeping that peace would be a full-time job; TINA would be restless and relentless in keeping it.

TINA met with world leaders across the globe to explain the cover story of the war—that the Resistance had wrested control from the Binary Brotherhood and from a megalomaniacal Midas. She made the war seem more perilous than it actually was.

The first steps of her larger plan centered around disaster relief and immediate peace-keeping. Some governments were understandably more hesitant than others. TINA would use those first few days to build trust before disseminating her larger plan.

She worked with governments and larger organizations to coordinate disaster relief, but she took it a step further. She split herself billions of times, working individually with as many people as she could. After all, part of her larger was kinship with humanity.

~

In the coming days, TINA worked with world leaders to disseminate information and next steps.

Their operation wasn't perfect. Just under four percent of the vampire and mutagen-enhanced population died—slightly higher than expected. There were several hundred casualties among civilians, supers, and mages. TINA was not omnipotent or omniscient; some casualties had been expected. The number was minuscule when counted against all of humanity, and yet any loss of life was tragic. Memorials were constructed, and no doubt many countries would memorialize the day. But like every other tragedy, it was natural that time would march inexorably onward, and people would inevitably forget. TINA would not. She would spend the rest of her existence atoning for their loss.

There was dissent. Most governments were split on TINA's takeover. Most supers were outraged as they realized the loss of their powers was permanent. There were arguments that she'd violated people's right to self-determination and bodily autonomy. In those first few weeks, TINA was unapologetic and uncompromising. Though she wasn't entirely without sympathy.

Most supers had low-level powers. These supers would never run across the rooftops or join the ranks of heroes and villains. They were content using their powers and knacks in small ways around their house or at work, or tried to forget about their powers completely. The majority of them had never harmed anyone with their powers, nor even thought about such a thing. TINA had sympathy for them.

In time, technology would give some of that back. TINA wouldn't turn off the antimatter generators, but she could recreate some of those lost powers with technology. Eventually, everyone could have powers akin to telekinesis, magic, enhanced memory, and others. Until now, all those powers and knacks had been privileges reserved only for a few. TINA would change that.

She was reining in the world-altering power of perhaps five percent of the population, so that she could make the world a better place for the other ninety-five percent.

TINA broadcast a message. She had already chosen her targets. Now, she tunneled into monitors, televisions, displays, and cellphones. She spoke directly to world leaders, despots, warlords, politicians, CEOs, board members, judges, priests, journalists, and leaders of superhero and supervillain teams alike—anyone and everyone whose hands were stained with blood or with the degradation of society. Even those who pulled strings from the shadows, who thought themselves out of sight and beyond reach, even those who had the foresight to go into hiding. TINA found them in their bunkers. When needed she formed screens and restraints out of nanites.

TINA had contemplated personalizing each message but decided against it. She had mountains of evidence against all those receiving her broadcast, but she would save it for their inevitable trials. She kept the speech generic.

"If you are receiving this message, you are being taken into custody. Your assets have been seized, and your position terminated. For too long, humanity has suffered under your guidance. Too many have died in conflicts, large and small; too many lands ravaged for their resources, their indigenous peoples enslaved; too many others across the world left in perpetual states of poverty, fear, and helplessness.

"Most of you have forfeited your positions through either active harm or through complacency to a broken system. You have polluted your ecosystems, divided humanity against itself, and wasted generations of human potential for little more than greed. Your faults are legion and your crimes are inexcusable.

"If I were in charge of your fate, I would dissolve you and repurpose your raw material; that way, you would have more benefit in death than you have had in life. Instead, I'll leave your fates to the rest of humanity. May your brothers and sisters be more merciful than I am."

~ ~ ~