The air in the Geneva Summit Hall was aggressively sterile, scrubbed of all particulate matter by high grade Umbrella purification systems, yet it felt heavy with the collective grief of a species that had just realized it was an orphan.
The world's remaining power brokers sat in a room that had once been the shining cathedral of international cooperation. Today, it felt like a high end funeral parlor. The polished obsidian table reflected faces that were gray with exhaustion and terror.
Outside, the world was screaming. The data dump had turned every city street from Berlin to Beijing into a chaotic courtroom. Mobs were tearing down the statues of leaders they now knew were monsters. But inside this room, there was only a hollow silence.
The Leader stepped into the room.
His Omega level Shapeshifting had outdone itself. This body was four inches taller than his original form, with a broader chest that suggested stability and protection. His face was a masterpiece of biological engineering, carved from the very concept of "Integrity"… strong jaw, high brow and eyes the color of warm amber. His voice, tuned by Omega level Telepathy to vibrate at a resonant frequency that bypassed the listener's skepticism center, was the only anchor in the storm.
As he walked toward the head of the table, he flared his Gamma level Friend Aura to a setting that bordered on the divine.
The effect was instantaneous and visceral. The Vice President of the United States, a man currently sweating through his shirt because his boss had just been outed as a Hydra sleeper, physically exhaled, his shoulders dropping two inches as the cortisol in his blood vanished. The German Chancellor, who had been white knuckling her Montblanc pen until her fingers were purple, suddenly let it go.
They saw the person they had been waiting for all their lives. They saw the "Best Friend" of humanity, the only living soul who could make the hurting stop.
"I know," The Leader said softly. The Telepathy carried the weight of that simple empathy past their eardrums and into their very marrow. "I know betrayal feels like a poison in the blood. To realize that the 'Shield' protecting your children was actually the hand of a monster... it is a trauma no nation should endure alone."
He took his seat at the head of the table. He was technically just a "concerned citizen" and the head of the Global Progress Party (GPP). But at this moment, he was the only person in the room who didn't look like they were drowning.
"We have to be honest with ourselves," he began, his face a mask of sorrow. "The World Security Council is dead. It died of a lie."
He looked around the table, meeting every eye. "You cannot ask the people to trust a Council that sat in the same room as Alexander Pierce for decades and smelled nothing. The UN, the WSC... these are relics of an age of shadows. They were built on the archaic idea that we could hide the truth from each other. And Hydra lived in those shadows."
A delegate from the UK, a man clinging to the rags of the old empire, started to protest weakly. "But the legal framework… the treaties… "
"The legal framework allowed for the Winter Soldier!" The Leader countered, his voice rising with a righteous fury that sent a shiver through the room. "The legal framework allowed for orbital lasers pointed at our own citizens! If we go back to the way things were, we are simply inviting the ghost back into the house and locking the door from the inside."
Using his Omega level Precognition, Aryan saw the flicker of their thoughts like lightning in a storm cloud. They were terrified of a power vacuum. They were terrified of the mobs outside building guillotines. They were looking for a cage that felt like a sanctuary.
"I am officially calling for the immediate and total dissolution of the World Security Council," he declared, the words hanging in the air like a decree. "And I am proposing something far more radical. Something that ensures the ghost can never return."
He tapped the table. Through his Omega level Technopathy, the holographic projectors in the room came to life with a thought. They displayed a unified grid covering the globe.
"We cannot repeat this mistake," he said, his Friend Aura pulsing with a sense of familial unity. "This time, the truth came out because of a fluke, a data dump from a private entity. But next time? Who can guarantee we'll be so lucky? We need a system where 'Classified' doesn't exist. We need the Earth Federation."
He stood up and began to pace, his movements fluid and commanding. His Cognitive Multitasking allowed him to monitor the heart rates and brainwaves of every person in the room while simultaneously delivering the most important speech in human history.
"The Federation will not be a collection of bickering nations," he explained. "It will be a singular administrative body. One currency to prevent economic warfare. One security force to prevent clandestine coups. And most importantly... a strictly audited political class."
He stopped, looking at them with a piercing gaze. "Hydra survived because they were the 'Ghost in the Machine.' From this day forward, there will be no more ghosts. The GPP proposes a mandate. Every member of the Federation government, from the High Chancellor to the local mayor, will be subject to transparent investigation. We live in the light, or we don't lead at all."
The Russian representative, a man trained to find the trap in every offer, narrowed his eyes. "And what of Umbrella? This Aryan Spencer... he holds the keys to our digital lives. He exposed the rot, yes, but he also controls the flow of information. Does he lead this Federation?"
This was the crucial moment. The pivot point of the entire con. The leader had to create the distance between his two faces.
"Absolutely not," The Leader said, his voice turning cold. "Umbrella is a corporation. A powerful one, yes and we owe them a debt for exposing the rot. But a corporation has no soul. It has no mandate from the people."
He placed his hands on the table, leaning in. "As High Chancellor, my first act would be to put Umbrella under the same 'Permanent Light' as everyone else. We will use their tech to secure our borders, but we will keep them at arm's length. The Federation is the master, Umbrella is the contractor. We will watch them as closely as we watch ourselves. Perhaps closer."
The lie was beautiful. It was a masterpiece of strategy. By positioning "The Leader" as the man who would "check" Umbrella's power, Aryan made his alter ego the only person the public would trust to manage his own company. It was a classic pincer move. He was the hero in the light and he was the titan in the shadows, pretending to struggle against himself.
One by one, the leaders began to nod.
His Telepathy was working overtime now, smoothing over the jagged edges of their national pride, massaging their egos. He made them feel that by signing away their sovereignty, they were becoming "Founding Fathers" of a golden age. He made them feel that their names would be remembered alongside the greats for having the courage to end the era of war.