Chapter 217: The "SHIELD" Accords
Once Tony had taken over the rest of the press conference, Fury, under the puzzled stares of the assembled reporters, announced that SHIELD would be dissolving due to its own internal failures.
The announcement set off an immediate storm.
While it didn't hit quite as hard as the footage of Matthew tearing a helicarrier apart with his bare hands, it still left the watching public thoroughly shaken, and a flood of rumors and speculation exploded across the internet almost immediately.
Some people worried that, with SHIELD gone, the Avengers might not continue to exist at all, and wondered how public safety would even be guaranteed going forward.
Others clung to conspiracy theories, suspecting that all of this had somehow been engineered by Matthew himself.
After all, Matthew had smashed SHIELD's helicarriers to pieces one moment, and SHIELD had announced its own dissolution practically the next. It was hard for people not to start connecting dots that weren't necessarily there.
And so, the news of SHIELD's dissolution touched off an even larger wave of public discourse online.
As time went on, that discourse spilled offline as well.
It even sparked large-scale demonstrations, demanding that the government impose strict controls on superhumans.
In response, people who believed Matthew Lawrence was a genuine, God-sent miracle, and who were convinced beyond doubt that he stood for justice, staged their own counter-demonstrations against the demonstrators.
Inside Umbrella Corporation.
Matthew sat in his office while, on the television screen not far away, footage played on a loop of the standoff between the "anti-superhuman faction" and the "anti-anti-superhuman faction."
Watching the scenes play out on screen, something helpless crossed Matthew's face, and he turned to look at Eleanor, who was pouring him tea.
"Do these people not have jobs to go to?"
"Jumping to conclusions off the smallest rumor, opposing this, opposing that, all day long..."
Hearing that, an unusual trace of the same weary resignation crossed Eleanor's normally cold expression. "I suppose this might be what people mean by borrowing trouble."
"Going to all this trouble over something that hasn't happened yet, and might not even be possible..."
"Then again, I suppose that counts as an American specialty."
With that, Eleanor set down the teapot. "Sir, is there anything you'd like me to do about it?"
"Do about it..." Matthew considered it for a moment.
An idea came to him quickly, and a smile spread across his face. "Now that you mention it... I do have a few things in mind."
Matthew cleared his throat twice, then addressed Eleanor with mock seriousness. "Eleanor, I have an idea."
"Get someone to quietly, and confidentially, funnel a sum of money to an environmental group, an animal rights group, and a vegan advocacy group, under the guise of a charitable donation, and get them involved in this 'battle.'"
"Because compared to the so-called anti-superhuman faction, those three are the ones who are actually impossible to deal with." As the idea came together in his head, Matthew leaned back in his leather chair and spun himself around a couple of times, thoroughly pleased with himself.
"So let's fight magic with magic."
Listening to what Matthew had just laid out, Eleanor's expression finally cracked.
She hadn't expected her boss, who didn't know the first thing about PR strategy, to actually have a real trick up his sleeve.
He'd even thought to fight magic with magic.
"Understood, sir. I'll take care of it right away."
Time passed quickly.
Once a large sum of money landed from some anonymous overseas account, several organizations all received instructions from the same mysterious benefactor around the same time, and quickly threw themselves into the fray.
In no time at all, the anti-superhuman faction became the target of everyone's ire.
The environmental group protested that the anti-superhuman protesters had used non-eco-friendly paint for their graffiti during the demonstrations, and had thrown eggs and rotten tomatoes at the anti-anti-superhuman faction, which they argued had polluted the city's environment.
The animal rights group filmed footage of anti-superhuman protesters trampling cats and dogs underfoot during the demonstrations, harming the local ecosystem, and issued a strong condemnation, demanding the protests be shut down immediately.
The vegan advocacy group, meanwhile, argued that every animal that had been trampled was a life, and that even the act of throwing eggs violated the right to life of the eggs themselves.
Doing what they'd done, they argued, was itself an act of contempt for life.
Seeing these three formidable factions jump into the fight, the anti-anti-superhuman faction wasted no time joining in as well!
In no time at all, the anti-superhuman faction found itself completely overwhelmed on every front.
In the end, under condemnation from multiple directions and government mediation, the anti-superhuman faction backed down, while the other four sides walked away with a decisive win.
Reading the news, Matthew nodded, satisfied.
Nothing beat the three most notoriously stubborn advocacy groups in the world when it came to efficiency, once they'd been paid to do a job.
Even so, while the visible street protests had been dealt with, the underlying problem itself remained unresolved.
The threat Matthew had demonstrated had rung alarm bells not just within the U.S. government, but among other nations as well.
And so, a joint accord targeting superhumans was rolled out, with the United States leading a coalition of nations behind it.
Its designation was: the "SHIELD" Accords.
The name came from the fact that everything leading up to it had been set in motion by the battle at SHIELD.
Two weeks later.
The conference room inside what had once been SHIELD's headquarters building was now packed with people.
Steve, Captain Carter, Black Widow, Tony Stark, Dr. Banner, Thor. Anyone affiliated with the Avengers had turned up.
And it wasn't just the Avengers. Members of the X-Men had come as well.
Wolverine, Magneto, Cyclops, Storm, Beast, and Professor X, who'd only recently returned from another dimension.
The assembled group sat in the conference room, splitting themselves, quite naturally, into two rough camps.
Though "camps" was really just a matter of people sitting with whoever they already knew.
And seated between those two groups were representatives sent by the United Nations.
Those representatives sat among the superheroes with a certain wariness in their eyes, as if the people surrounding them weren't superheroes at all, but a gathering of super-criminals who happened to have powers.
"Hey, Logan... is our guest of honor still not here yet?" Beast sat back in his chair, looking a little irritated.
Logan swiveled slightly in his seat and looked over at Beast. "There's been a lot of controversy around Matthew Lawrence lately. He's been surrounded by reporters demanding interviews nonstop, so running a little behind isn't exactly surprising."
"And besides, as president of the Mutant Association and the owner of Umbrella Corporation, having something come up at the last minute is pretty normal for him."
As one of Matthew's close friends, Logan didn't actually know why he was running late, but he still jumped to his defense without hesitation.
Nearby, having overheard Logan's explanation, Tony, who'd only met him once or twice, chimed in in agreement. "I think Mr. Logan's got a point..."
"For business owners like us, our time hasn't really belonged to us for a long time now."
"The moment you wake up every morning, there's already a mountain of things waiting to get done... so running a little late every once in a while is honestly pretty normal."
As he said it, Tony gave Logan a wink.
Logan quietly gave him a thumbs-up in return, for the assist.
But before the words had even fully settled, one of the UN representatives, a man in a suit with a distinctly displeased expression, stood up.
"I don't agree with either Mr. Stark's or Mr. Logan's point of view."
Hearing that, Tony raised an eyebrow.
He leaned back into the sofa and crossed one leg over the other. "Oh?"
"What part of our point of view does this gentleman disagree with, exactly?"
"All of it." The man pushed his gold-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose, his voice cold.
"The United Nations notified all of you about this meeting ten days in advance, and the time was locked in well before today."
"And yet someone has still managed to arrive half an hour late."
"This is a blatant show of contempt for the United Nations."
"And Mr. Stark, is whatever business you claim is keeping you so busy really more important than this meeting?"
But before he could finish the thought...
The heavy conference room door was suddenly pushed open.
Creak
There was no forceful bang, no deliberate noise of any kind.
The only sound was the faint friction of the hinges turning.
Every head in the room turned toward the sound.
The next instant, Matthew stepped inside.
He was dressed today in a sharply tailored charcoal-gray suit, no tie, the top button of his shirt left casually undone, giving him a certain effortless, easy air.
Sitting in a single-seat sofa across the room, Professor X, catching sight of Matthew, let a barely perceptible smile touch the corner of his mouth, offering him a simple nod of greeting.
Tony, still leaning back with his legs crossed, kept the same posture, but a look of "here we go, this should be good" spread across his face.
The others who knew Matthew nodded and greeted him in turn.
As for the man in the gold-rimmed glasses, who a moment ago had been righteously indignant, loudly condemning Matthew for showing contempt toward the United Nations...
His mouth was still hanging open.
Matthew's gaze swept past him without pausing, his stride carrying him straight toward an empty seat at the conference table.
His dress shoes struck the marble floor in a crisp, even rhythm with every step.
Hearing it, the man's throat bobbed faintly, cold sweat instantly soaking through the shirt beneath his suit.
He'd seen Matthew.
Of course he'd seen Matthew.
Everyone in the entire conference room had seen Matthew.
But given everything he'd just said, he now found himself utterly unable to meet Matthew's eyes directly, terrified that this living reaper might crook a single finger and send him off on the same trip to the stratosphere he'd given Alexander Pierce.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
The man's already half an hour late, why did he have to walk in right now...
Did he hear everything I just said? the man thought, panic rising fast.
His eyes darted back and forth behind his glasses, as if searching desperately for some way out.
An idea struck him almost immediately.
The very instant Matthew passed by his side!
The man in the gold-rimmed glasses, as if he'd just been shocked by something, forced his gaze away and spun sharply to face the opposite side of the conference table.
Sitting in that direction were Dr. Banner and Beast, otherwise entirely unrelated to any of it.
Then, in a tone completely different from the one he'd been using a moment ago, the man spoke. Of course, being a little late is honestly understandable!"
His voice came out perfectly level, as if the words he'd said just moments ago had come out of someone else entirely...
"After all, Mr. Lawrence carries the full weight of managing the Mutant Association, while also running an enterprise as massive as Umbrella Corporation."
"Given how overwhelmed with responsibilities and obligations he must be, the fact that he managed to carve out any time at all to attend this meeting, in the middle of everything else on his plate, is itself a tremendous show of respect to the United Nations."
As he spoke, he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
His fingertip, brushing against the frame, casually wiped away a bead of sweat that hadn't quite fallen yet.
"As for the timing issue we were just discussing..."
"I don't think any of us should be too hard on him about it."
"After all, everyone here is an adult. We should all understand what it's like to have circumstances outside our own control."
"And everything has two sides to it. Mr. Stark made a fair point earlier, a business owner's time was never entirely their own to begin with."
"And need I even mention how much public exposure Mr. Lawrence has been under lately? Everyone here has seen it firsthand!"
"Reporters chasing him down at every turn! Interview requests piling up faster than he can answer them!"
"The fact that Mr. Lawrence only arrived thirty minutes late... honestly!"
He spread both hands wide and turned a warm, spring-breeze smile toward Dr. Banner and Beast.
"That, in itself, is a testament to his dedication!"
The words settled...
The conference room fell silent for roughly three seconds.
During those three seconds, Tony slowly bowed his head, his expression on the verge of collapse.
Wolverine Logan turned his head away too, glancing around the room, one hand raised to cover his face.
Dr. Banner, sitting directly across from the man, let out an awkward cough and dropped his eyes to the meeting materials in front of him, pretending he'd heard nothing at all.
Beside him, Beast pulled off his glasses, pretending the lenses were dirty, wiped them on the hem of his jacket, and put them back on.
Once the man had finished smoothing things over, he turned around as though he'd only just noticed Matthew, his face a picture of exaggerated surprise. "Mr. Lawrence?!"
"When did you get here?"
"What a coincidence! We were just talking about how dedicated you are!"
Matthew: "..."
Before Matthew could say anything, the man kept going. "My apologies, Mr. Lawrence, everyone. My stomach's giving me some trouble. I should head to the restroom..."
"As for the rest of the meeting."
The man looked over at a woman who'd also come from the United Nations delegation.
"Anka, would you mind taking over as chair?"
With that, he strode quickly out of the conference room without a single backward glance.
The moment he was gone, Tony, who'd been fighting to hold in his laughter, finally lost the battle entirely.
Tony's laughter shattered the silence that had settled over the room.
Everyone who'd been on the verge of cracking a moment ago dropped the act completely and burst out laughing along with him.
Even Matthew, who'd been keeping his own expression carefully composed while quietly watching the man process the situation, allowed himself a satisfied smile, the look of a man whose plan had gone off exactly as intended.
Sure enough, as long as your fist was big enough, everyone and every faction had a way of suddenly becoming very polite.
Even water that had already been spilled could apparently still find its way back into the cup.
Once the laughter died down, the meeting finally got down to business.
Anka, now chairing the meeting, distributed copies of the terms of the SHIELD Accords to everyone present and walked the room through a careful explanation of the contents.
Listening to Anka's rundown of the accords, the smiles that had still lingered on people's faces slowly faded, replaced first by seriousness.
And then, finally, by open displeasure.
"Ms. Anka, I understand you're only chairing this meeting and had no hand in actually drafting the SHIELD Accords, but I have to ask..."
"When you people were writing these terms, did you even think of us as people at all? Or did you write them like you were talking about dogs?"
With that, Magneto rose slowly to his feet, something cold flashing in his eyes.
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