"Attention. From this point on, we will be influencing the weather over the Middle East. The desert regions there are about to experience an unprecedented deluge."
Wanda demonstrated the control interface, though in truth the weather-control satellites were all being managed by Black Queen.
That was done to prevent a scenario like Geostorm, where soone hijacked the satellites with a virus. With Black Queen in place, even if Ultron ever appeared, he would not be taking control of those one hundred weather satellites.
"The Middle East has paid fifty billion dollars for this rainstorm."
Wanda continued with a calm smile.
On the screen, the desert regions of the Middle East appeared in full view. The wealthy oil tycoons and other regional investors who had paid for this demonstration all straightened in their seats, eager to see exactly what kind of storm they were about to receive.
In orbit, one of the satellites rotated its module, and countless particle-sized projectiles were launched toward the Middle East. Once they struck the clouds, they reacted instantly with the atmosphere.
People on the ground looked up and saw a sky that had been bright and blazing only monts ago turn black with thick cloud cover in an instant.
"It's going to rain! Get sothing to collect the water!"
"I hope it's a real downpour and not one of those pathetic five-minute showers."
People rushed to grab containers. For many of them, this was the only way to obtain clean water.
Otherwise, they would have to travel long distances to rivers and haul it back by hand.
Then the rain ca.
Almost imdiately, it turned into a torrential storm.
The downpour beca so dense that it was impossible to see anything a few ters away. The impoverished residents, many of whom had never witnessed rainfall like this in their lives, stared in stunned disbelief before erupting into joy.
The rain continued for a full five or six hours.
Several areas ended up flooded, but in Umbrella Corporation's exhibition hall, the applause never stopped.
After the conference ended, many attendees rushed to Urd and Wanda to discuss partnerships and contracts.
"The greatest invention of the century. Humanity will never have to fear nature again!"
"Droughts, floods, tsunamis, tornadoes? All of them are relics of the past!"
"Humanity forever! Humanity is magnificent!"
"Drex Valen is a goddamn genius!"
The outside dia and the public erupted in celebration.
What they did not know was that if they wanted those disasters handled, they would have to pay Umbrella Corporation for the service.
Umbrella's explanation was straightforward.
The weather-control satellite system cost hundreds of billions of dollars per year to maintain. Without paynt, it would degrade very quickly.
The fact that the system was controlled by a private corporation instead of a governnt caused plenty of noise, but considering that Drex Valen already possessed warships and orbital satellite cannons, that fact alone didn't feel especially strange anymore.
Besides, nobody could do anything to him.
Drex Valen was still the strongest man on Earth. He had driven back alien invasions and far more dangerous threats more than once. Whether they tried force or diplomacy, anyone who aid at him would end up empty-handed.
Umbrella Corporation's private military was equally extravagant.
They started with Decepticons.
They were no longer even bothering with War Machines.
Across the company's global branches, the number of Decepticons exceeded ten thousand, and there were also hundreds of Zaku units.
Rumor had it that Raccoon City had recently begun using a new construction technology that let developnt proceed at incredible speed. That had already attracted serious interest from China, which wanted to send a team of experts to study it.
…
Nidavellir, the realm of the dwarves.
King Eitri was busy forging weapons for the Krypton Empire, and Asgard, just as Drex Valen had predicted, had not co calling to question him for disobedience or betrayal.
The age when Asgard ruled the Nine Realms through the Bifrost was over.
This was the era of the Krypton Empire now.
"Your Majesty! A ship is approaching us!" several dwarves shouted as they rushed in.
"A ship?"
Eitri imdiately sensed that sothing was wrong.
When people from the Krypton Empire ca here, they used the Bifrost. They did not bother with ships.
"Go tell His Majesty!" he shouted, sending one dwarf off to request help from the Krypton Empire.
Then the vessels ca into view.
And once their insignia was seen, the dwarves went pale.
It was the infamous Mad Titan.
Thanos.
And the Black Order.
What was Thanos doing here?
The dwarves trembled in fear.
King Eitri forced himself to step forward.
"Thanos! What are you doing here?"
He said it with the weakest voice imaginable while still trying to sound defiant.
In truth, the whole situation felt absurd. Hadn't Thanos and the Black Order been ambushed by the Shi'ar Empire and heavily injured by a gravity-collapse bomb?
Then why did they still have so many people with them?
Eitri quickly added another line, just in case.
"Nidavellir belongs to the Krypton Empire now!"
Thanos actually paused when he heard that.
"I'm only here to have you forge a container that can hold the Infinity Stones," he said flatly. "If you make it, I'll leave."
"I thought we agreed not to forge weapons for anyone outside the Krypton Empire…"
Eitri breathed a small sigh of relief, then continued.
"They won't find out, as long as you don't tell them."
Thanos gave a slight shake of his head.
Behind him, his army and the Black Order mbers quietly polished their weapons. The threat was obvious enough.
At the sa ti, back in the Krypton Empire…
"The Black Order?"
Drex Valen had just received the report from the dwarf who had rushed over through the Bifrost to ask for help.
The Black Order had invaded Nidavellir. Nobody knew what they wanted, but since it was the Black Order, anything was possible. The dwarf was clearly anxious.
Drex stood with his hands behind his back.
Thanos had finally shown up again.
But by now, Drex no longer considered him a serious threat.
He was growing too quickly.
If Thanos had once been a super boss that required full effort to defeat, then after Drex awakened his Doomsday gene, Thanos had beco more like a mini-boss, stronger than an elite enemy but nowhere near enough to matter.
At this point, he was basically just a red-na target.
"By the way," Drex asked Black Queen, "how are the players doing now?"
"So of them have fully equipped their subordinates as machine-gun infantry," Black Queen replied. "Others have already exchanged points for chs."
Drex raised an eyebrow.
"That fast?"
He rembered closing the recharge channel. By all logic, they should not have been able to obtain chs so quickly.
"They've learned to use interplanetary transport networks," Black Queen said. "The whale-class players and super-whales are spending money to hire other players and their subordinates to mine, work, build, and earn resources for them."
Even Black Queen sounded a little surprised.
After all, this was a real world. There were no invisible walls here.
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