Marvel: Incursio

Liam continued thinking about more possibilities for some time before he started feeling his stomach ache from hunger.

'Let's eat something first.' He thought, walking to his fridge.

After eating, he checked his phone and found out that it had been three full days since he had gone to sleep.

'The exhaustion really did a number on me,' Liam thought. 'I wonder how the Ancient One dealt with the aftermath.'

Liam reached for his laptop and started Googling. Typing in "Greece," hundreds of fresh news articles, debates, and speculations showed up in an instant.

'Wasn't the Ancient One supposed to take care of the aftermath?' Liam thought, reading the titles. 'Why is all of this still here?'

"Supernatural winged creature."

"Angels are back!"

"Massive walls stop landslide from reaching city."

All articles, debates, and speculations had one thing in common: the winged person with golden light around him who had created massive walls out of nowhere to protect a few cities from a massive landslide.

'The worst part is,' Liam thought, 'there's video proof of this happening.'

A few videos, without any context, had spread like wildfire right after Liam had vanished, sending chills to people all over the world. With it came disbelief and countless questions. In response, all the major news stations rushed to Greece and started interviewing witnesses and victims from Crete.

The witness interviews revealed many different perspectives. Most people believed Liam had saved their lives and were immensely thankful for what he had done. However, there were exceptions—those who hated him, not for stopping the landslide but for failing to prevent the earthquakes.

Many of these witnesses had lost family, friends, or others to the earthquakes and found it hard to accept that someone capable of such things hadn't intervened earlier.

People around the world reacted differently to the news reports with context and witness statements.

Despite all the proof, many people still couldn't believe that something like this could happen in real life. Others outright demonized him, either for failing to save more people or simply for having supernatural powers. Naturally, the majority of people fully supported the idea of a savior.

As for whether he was an actual angel, as most people from Crete claimed, or not, the global debate wasn't even close to nearing an end.

Despite the ongoing discussions and skepticism, the number of people joining churches worldwide increased by 80% on the first day after the event.

Most joined under a simple belief: "It wouldn't hurt if we made the wrong decision and nothing happens after joining, but it could make a difference if we made the right choice and it is indeed an angel."

Right after Liam had gone back, many countries had send over rescue workers in order to save people from rubble.Even now, these rescue workers were still working tirelessly to save people from the rubble.

At the same time, scientists had begun investigating what had actually happened to the mountain. The sudden creation of a volcano was something that had never happened before, after all.

'Such a shame,' Liam thought, reading the negative comments. 'I wish I could've saved more people too, but I gave it my all. I know most people won't see it that way, but I'll just have to ignore them.'

'This was the exact reason why I had expected the Ancient One to wipe all memories related to this,' he thought, deciding to visit her soon for an explanation.

There was one last thing that genuinely surprised Liam.

'No governments have stepped forward to say anything yet,' Liam thought. 'No explanation, no gratitude. But also, no one has asked me to surrender myself, no wanted posters, nothing.'

After thinking some more about the situation, Liam could also see a positive side to this making headlines.

''Maybe this publicity can be a good thing,'' Liam muttered. ''This can save me quite a lot of time when setting up my organization.''

After some more thought, Liam closed his laptop. Without wasting any more time, he left his room and headed straight for the Ancient One's meditation chamber.

The Ancient One opened her eyes as Liam let himself into the room.

''Good morning, young Liam,'' the Ancient One greeted him. ''I see you rested well.''

''Yes, I will admit that I needed it,'' Liam mused as he sat down on the opposite side of the table.

''It seems like resting also helped your body,'' she said, looking at his smaller horns and arm.

Liam nodded.

''Let's change the topic to the aftermath now,'' the Ancient One said. ''I can see that you have many questions.''

''Why did you not completely remove their memories regarding what happened?'' Liam asked.

''I did remove some of their memories,'' the Ancient One answered, smiling. ''I removed all information about the creatures that caused this.''

''Why remove the information about them but not me?'' Liam asked.

''I removed the existence of those beasts because they would sow fear and chaos,'' the Ancient One began. ''Humanity isn't ready to know the truth yet. Instead, they need to be gradually eased into it.''

''Starting with you,'' the Ancient One said, pointing at him. ''While Tony Stark started the Hero Era, you showed them an act that's completely beyond their perception.''

''Magic,'' Liam said, linking what the Ancient One's goal was.

"That's right,'' the Ancient One said. ''Over time, they will accept the notion of danger from magical creatures since they know magic exists.''

Liam accepted the situation. What the Ancient One had said made sense, after all. 'If people aren't eased into something like this, they will turn on each other and only cause chaos and destruction.'

The Ancient One and Liam talked some more about the aftermath before she changed focus to his changes.

''Now, as for your body,'' the Ancient One said, ''I would advise against using your armor until a few days after your horns are gone.''

''Don't worry, I wasn't planning to go out for the next period of time anyway,'' Liam said, thanking the Ancient One before leaving.

'Now, let's see what's next on the checklist,' Liam thought, creating a portal back to his room.

Before he made any plans, his mind went back to Illyana. While he had spoken to his grandfather quite often, he realized he hadn't seen Illyana since leaving her with the Ancient One quite some days ago.

'That'll go on the top of the checklist,' Liam thought. 'I wonder what she will say after seeing my horns.'

'After talking to her, I will have to test my new body again, and I need to go to Incursio's dimension to get some questions answered,' he thought.

Meanwhile, in a military base in the U.S.,

A general was finishing a phone call.

''Your requests have gone through, and the board has allowed you to capture your specimen and continue the experiments,'' someone on the other end of the line said.

''Don't worry—this will be the breakthrough the military, and America, needs.'' General Ross said as he put down the phone, ending the call.

''Bunch of hypocrites,'' General Ross cursed. ''I warned them these freaks would be a danger sooner rather than later.''

''And look where we are now,'' he cursed again, standing up and walking out of his office.

''It's time to go,'' General Ross told a commanding officer. ''We have a specimen to catch.''