"I now close this Ordinary Meeting of the General Assembly," Didimus Gonzales, Secretary-General of the United Nations stated before quickly continuing before the Delegates could begin talking, shuffling papers or worse, leaving. "There will be a short recess of ten minutes before a Special Meeting of the General Assembly will begin. This will be a Closed Session. As such, all media representatives, public guests in the gallery and all non-Delegates will be asked to leave. In addition, only essential Translators will be permitted to remain."
As expected, there was a moment of silence as either his words were being translated into the dozens of languages that the Delegates spoke or his surprise statement was being processed. Well, surprise to most; there were, after all, a handful that knew not only that this meeting would be happening but also what the topic under discussion was to be.
And then the noise level grew. Delegates were quickly on their feet, either stretching or striding from their seat to have a quiet word with other Delegates. The Gallery, Didimus could see, was being cleared by the Guards. And up in the huge, glass-fronted room that overlooked the large Assembly room of their Geneva Headquarters, close to half of the translators were in the process of collecting their belongings before they would be escorted from the room.
Soon enough, the General Assembly was once again seated in their places, many looking around the room at how empty it seemed without all of the on-lookers and extra individuals in attendance. It was actually extremely rare for the any meetings of the United Nations to be conducted like this and even Didimus found it somewhat disconcerting. After all, the UN was supposed to be a body that represented the world and hiding behind closed doors and making decisions that way just felt wrong.
After sweeping his gaze over the room one last time, Didimus straightened in his chair and touched the button that rang a melodious chime, signalling that the meeting was about to begin.
"Please close and secure the doors," he called to the guards placed beside said doors. "No one apart from Delegates is permitted into this room until the meeting has concluded."
"Excuse me, Mister Secretary General," Pierre Laroche, the Delegate for France called. "But I believe that there is still one last individual that needs to leave before the meeting can begin."
"Thank you, Mister Laroche. However, United States Secretary of State General Thaddeus Ross is here at my personal invitation. He has previously held a vital role with the United Nations and his expertise and opinion will be needed for the discussion at hand," Didimus replied.
When the last door had been closed – with the guards now positioned outside of the Assembly room – the Secretary General nodded.
"Thank you all for staying," he began. "I acknowledge that I have circumvented normal procedures by announcing this Meeting with Special Business in this way and even more so by not informing you of the topic beforehand. The reason that I have done this is because of the sensitive nature of what we will be discussing and most especially with how ... controversial it is among the general public of the world.
"Today, it is my intention for us to discuss The Sokovia Accords, also known as the Superhuman Registration Act."
"What is there to discuss?" the Egyptian Delegate asked. "We discussed this at length amongst ourselves and even hosted a symposium with the extra-humans themselves. The vote was all but unanimous."
"I have heard no reports of the Avengers or the other groups acting against the Accords," David Winchester, the representative for Great Britain stated. "Unless there are reports that have been covered up?"
"No," Didimus replied quickly. "The Avengers, the X-men, the Fantastic Four – not to mention all of their allies – have all abided by the Accords, keeping every law to the letter."
"Then what is the problem? Assuming that there is one?" Nakia, the Wakandan Delegate asked.
Didimus took a breath. They were now at the real reason for the meeting and despite his decades not just within politics but within the United Nations itself, he could not predict the response that he was about to get.
"The problem is that, while those that I named have abided by the Sokovia Accords, there are numerous others of extra-human abilities that are not."
A great murmuring swept through the General Assembly and it was easy to hear that there was a decidedly angry undertone to it.
"I assume that these ... people are being dealt with? That they are being arrested, tried and, where appropriate, incarcerated?" Gillian Bird, the Delegate for Australia asked.
"That question brings us to the main issue that is at the heart of our meeting today," Didimus stated. "Yes, where possible, local constabularies are dealing with the extra-humans. Unfortunately, this is not a common occurrence. Most countries that are in need of more specialised forces to deal with these people are employing their military forces. However, more and more instances are occurring where even this response is insufficient to the threat that is being posed."
"I move that we authorise lethal force to be used by any government and military force that is reluctant to make the decision on their own," the Saudi Arabian delegate stated, emphasising his declaration with a slap of his table.
"Seconded!" three voices rang at once.
Didimus frowned. "Surely I do not need to remind the Delegates within this room that the United Nations cannot create and impose laws upon nations in the manner that you are attempting to suggest."
"Mister Secretary General," Nakia of Wakanda called and Didimus could see that her brows were slightly furrowed. "Can I request, on behalf of my fellow Delegates, clarification of the events that you are referring to? Concrete examples, if you will, of the instances where the national police or army was unable to combat the extra-humans."
Didimus shot her a grateful look. "It was my intention to do so. While there are in excess of two dozen instances just within the last month where mutants, mutates or Inhumans have threated – and in many instances, taken – the lives of ordinary citizens, I intend on outlining three of them today. A packet with additional information about all such instances is being brought around to you."
At his words, he pressed a buzzer on his desk and four of Didimus' most trusted aides stepped into the room pushing a small cart in front of them. Quickly, the four filed around the room, handing a thick document to each and every delegate. When all had received one, the four retreated back the way that they had come, the door closing behind them with a soft click.
As much as he wanted to move the meeting on, Didimus waited, giving the assembled delegates a chance to scan through the document that they'd just received. Judging by some of the scowls that were beginning to appear on various faces, he knew that the delegates were already beginning to understand the problem. On a worldwide scale.
"I would like to call upon the Tuvula Delegate, Mister Aunese Simati," Didimus called in a loud voice.
An elderly gentleman with a myriad of deep lines on his dark brown face and brilliant, white hair stood from his chair and strode down the stairs to stand in the centre of the open area between where the delegates sat in their rows and Didimus' own position.
"Thank you, Mister Secretary-General," Delegate Simati said with a small bow in his direction.
Didimus inclined his head in return before pressing a button on his desk which lowered the great viewscreen from the ceiling in preparation for the first of the videos that was to be shown that day.
"Assembled Delegates," Delegate Simati said gazing out at the rows upon rows of his peers. "Tuvalu is a small nation made up of an old people. While we cherish our independence, we are also grateful to those who have stood by our side over the years, most notably Britain and the Commonwealth, of which we are a part. In terms of our place amongst you, we are still young, being one of the newer members. It is my sad duty to bring to you today the message that we as a people now only exist as a nation-in-exile."
"Mister Simati," Delegate Winchester said over the confused susurration that permeated the great room, "what do you mean 'nation-in-exile'? The British Commonwealth has heard nothing about this."
"That is not completely accurate," Gillian Bird, the Australian delegate refuted. "Australia is very well aware of the plight of the Tulavuan people. But I will allow Mister Simati to tell the assembled delegates the details of his statement."
"My thanks, Ms Bird," Delegate Simati replied with a bow in her direction. "Three days ago, a group of calling themselves the Brotherhood of Mutants arrived in Vaiaku, our capital. They were led by this man. He calls himself 'Magneto'."
The screen above flared into life showing a photo of a group of nineteen individuals. The most prominent was an older man wearing black clothes, a cape and a strange-looking helmet on his head. Some of the others around him were clearly extra-humans, most notably a blue-skinned woman and a strange little man who was crouched down on all fours like some weird kind of frog or toad.
"This Brotherhood of Mutants marched into our governmental building and ordered that our entire population leave our islands," Simati continued, his voice cracking with the distress of what he was saying. "The one called Magneto told our Prime Minister and his Parliament that they had decided that Tuvalu was to be the new home for all mutants. Of course, we resisted. The police were called in."
Here, Simati merely waved at the screen bringing everyone's attention to the short video that began playing.
Didimus resisted the urge to twist about so that he, too, could watch the video. After all, he'd already seen it – numerous times – and he thought that it would be more informative to watch the delegate's reaction.
The video, he knew, showed a dozen Tuvalu police officers bursting into the Parliament, their guns already drawn. Those guns, though, were immediately ripped out of the police officer's hands before reversing themselves and pointing back at the officers while floating in mid-air. The video would then cut to show the outside of the Parliament building where numerous police cars as well as a riot truck had taken up position. And then an extremely large man with bulging muscles and a dome-shaped helmet on his head began running at the vehicles. The Juggernaut didn't stop when he got near the riot truck, instead he sped up before slamming into it with his head, causing the truck to almost fold in two before rocketing over and over across the street.
"As you can see, my police forces did not stand a chance against such mutants as these," Delegate Simati said sadly. "We are only a small people – less than eleven thousand of us spread across our nine tiny islands. Our Prime Minister did the only thing that he could do in the circumstances in order to protect the safety of our people. He surrendered and our people were evacuated within the next twenty-four hours."
"Where to? Where did you go?"
The question was voiced by more than a dozen in the room before Simati raised his hands to stop them.
"Our good friends in Australia have taken the people of Tuvalu in," Delegate Simati told them all. "There are a great many logistical problems for us to deal with at this time but we are coping as best as we can."
"I would like to move a vote of thanks to the people of Australia for their help in this trying and unusual situation," Didimus said.
"Seconded!" more than half the room roared.
"My thanks, Delegate Simati," Didimus said as the Tuvalu delegate returned to his seat. "Please be assured that the United Nations will do all that they can to assist you and your people at this time. Delegates, this is just one of the many situations that has arisen in the past few months. And unfortunately, as more and more time passes, the more unusual and the more dangerous and deadly the situations are that are appearing. And while most are appearing in the news of the world, there are some that have been deliberately kept hidden so as not to incite riots and panic among the general population, like the situation on Tuvalu."
The slight shuffling of people in their seats told Didimus that already, this session was getting the reaction that he expected.
"I would now like to call upon the Delegate from Kenya."
Didimus watched as Madame Kandie rose from her place in the second tier and moved gracefully to the floor, her head held high, as dignified as she always appeared.
"Mister Secretary-General, Delegates, thank you for this opportunity to speak," she began. "What I am about to relay to you happened eleven days ago but it highlights a trend that we in Kenya have begun noticing.
"As I am certain that you are all aware, Kenya is located in what can be termed as a 'hotspot' of troubles within the world. As such, our military is always on alert. That does not mean that they are infallible, for no force can claim otherwise and be entirely truthful. One point that is of interest to our national security is our border with Somalia and thus, we have a military base located nearby.
"Eleven days ago, that base was infiltrated by a single unarmed Somali man. He managed to evade notice as he crossed the base and entered one of our barracks."
At Madame Kandie's nod to him, Didimus pressed the button that ran the recording of the incident. The grainy image showed the interior of the Kenyan barracks that Madame Kandie had referenced. Rows of bunks, easily a dozen to either side, lined the walls. Judging by the lumps in said bunks, combined with the dark that could be seen outside the windows, it was night and there was a squad asleep in the room.
That was when a man slipped into the room, closing the door behind him. Instead of approaching any of the sleeping men, he simple stood in the very centre of the room, turning about as though to take it all in. And then he stopped, leant forwards slightly before drawing upright and even bending slightly backwards. There was no sound to go with the picture and thus, at first, id did not appear that anything was happening.
That was until the men began waking, most clutching their throats. Four managed to stumble to their feet; one even managed a few steps towards the unknown man in the centre of the room before he collapsed. One by one, the soldiers fell, either back onto their bunks or to the floor. Many spasmed slightly at first but before long, they had become completely still.
Finally, the unknown man looked around the room once more, nodded and exited the way that he had arrived.
"What you just witnessed was the death of twenty-two Kenyan soldiers," Madame Kandie stated. "The cause of their death: asphyxiation. The man who did this was Somalian. He was captured between this barracks and the next one that he was headed towards. After questioning, it was revealed that he is an Inhuman. An Inhuman with the ability to draw all of the oxygen within a room into himself, leaving no air for any others within that room to breathe. Even with the death of twenty-two soldiers, we consider ourselves lucky. His plan was to move from room to room, killing as many soldiers as he could on the Base. All without drawing a single weapon."
Again, there was a great murmuring throughout the room.
"Thank you, Madame Kandie," Didimus said, giving the woman as deep a bow as he could from where he was sitting. "We extend our condolences to you and to your people."
She returned his bow with a simple nod before retreating to her seat.
"As you can imagine," Didimus said, addressing the assembled delegates, "there have been a great many more instances similar to this. I asked Madame Kandie to tell you of this one to highlight the fact that we non-powered humans are able to combat some of the abilities that have manifested themselves within the powered community.
"I would now like to invite the Delegate for the United States of America to the floor. Miss Haley?"
From the corner of his eye, Didimus noticed Secretary Ross straighten in his chair before leaning forward slightly. This was where things would get interesting, Didimus knew. While Ross had been personally invited to the meeting by himself, Didimus had kept the contents of the meeting from him. The frown that now appeared on Ross' face told everyone that he didn't like being kept in the dark.
"Thank you, Mister Secretary-General," Miss Haley said once she was positioned in the centre of the floor facing the delegates. "I would like to begin by confirming the Secretary-General's earlier statement: Since the signing of the Sokovia Accords, the Avengers, their allies and the other groups that are affected by the Accords that reside within the United States have abided by the laws that we set. That does not mean to say that there have been no incidents of law-breaking by mutants, mutates or Inhumans within the United States of America. There have been. Numerous counts, actually. However, the perpetrators have not been those who I just named.
"I was asked here today to give a report upon those who are breaking the laws set within the Sokovia Accords and how the United States police and or military have dealt with those instances."
While there was a general shuffling of bodies on seats, not a sound could be heard and Didimus knew that Miss Haley had everyone's full attention.
"The short answer," she continued, "is 'not well'. Most mutates, mutants or Inhumans that have broken the law by using their powers have remained at large. Like my colleagues before me, I have brought video footage with me to show you exactly what the police and military within the United States have been dealing with. So as to not extend our time here more than necessary, I have limited the footage that I will show you to instances that have taken place within New York City.
"This first video takes place on the very doorstep of Avengers Tower. The individual that you can see," she said, pointing up and behind her to the video that was now playing, "has been given the name 'Scorpion', due to his green-tinted suit and long, pointed tail. As you can see, nothing that the police threw at the Scorpion had any impact on him at all. It was almost as though he was playing with them. And as you can also see, not a single Avenger intervened. Thankfully, while there were numerous injuries, no officers were killed in this skirmish.
"This second incident happened three weeks later. Much of this footage was distributed worldwide via numerous news outlets. For those of you who have not seen it, the figure in the centre of the window is J. Jonah Jameson, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, a newspaper from New York City. The Scorpion had taken Jameson hostage in a misguided attempt to force the Avengers out to confront him. His goal, we have since learnt, was to discredit them, having been hired prior to donning the suit by Jameson to do so through the use of photographs. Exactly what happened to turn the man under the mask into the Scorpion we have yet to determine.
"This incident, as you can see in the footage, drew the attention of two others. The one riding the advanced flight board is calling himself the 'Hobgoblin'. The other is known as 'Electro' and can control electricity. Prior to this incident, both of them were limited to 'simple' burglaries. Since the three of them have joined forces, their exploits have become ... grander. Banks are being robbed on a daily basis; military bases or convoys are being attacked, their weapons stolen; ransom is being demanded through blackmail or hostage situations. Our sources tell us that there is a fourth individual involved in all this, primarily keeping to the background and supplying weapons. We only know him as the Vulture."
"Delegate Haley, what happened to Mister Jameson? Did he survive?" the delegate from Peru asked.
"Surprisingly, yes," Haley replied. "Unfortunately, not because of anything our police or SWAT teams did. It appears that the Scorpion finally became convinced that the Avengers weren't coming and simply ... left. Jameson was rescued and taken to a hospital where he is likely to spend the next four months recovering from his injuries."
"Surely the vaunted might of the U.S. military can deal with a few enhanced individuals, no matter how advanced they seem," the Iraqi delegate asked in a tone that clearly indicated that he couldn't see how this was a problem.
"It's not as simple as that," Haley replied. "This group is smart. They're using innocent civilians to stop us from getting close. And they've also started taking over the various gangs and mob organisations within New York as well. They are building layers of protection that make it impossible for us to get close enough to deal with them without any collateral damage. And make no mistake, there would be loss of civilian lives considering the amount of firepower that our military would be forced to use to combat them."
"Thank you, Delegate Haley," Didimus said, cutting off any other questions. "As you can see from the examples that have been detailed to you from our colleagues representing diverse parts of the world, there has been an unexpected rise in incidents relating to the safety of the people of the world because of people with extraordinary abilities.
"When we first instituted discussion about regulating those with special abilities due to their genetic makeup or because of an altering of their genes, it was in direct response to what had been happening in the world already. We could see the potential problems that could occur. Thus, we ratified the Sokovia Accords. Personally, in the last weeks, I have come to wonder if what we did was the wisest course of action."
"It should not be a surprise, Mister Secretary-General," Nakia, the Wakandan delegate stated. "I remember the question being asked at the conference of the Five Tribes – what will happen when those mutants, mutates, Inhumans or those with advanced technology decide to act and ignore the laws set out in the Sokovia Accords?"
"Are you saying that we should not have agreed to the Accords? That we should not have regulated those 'heroes' who inadvertently caused the deaths of so many innocent lives within my own nation?" the Nigerian delegate spat.
"Wakandans were also killed in the incident that you speak of, Delegate Nibarbu," Nakia reminded him. "But I find myself questioning whether we were too hasty in our response. We all agreed to sign the Accords and from where I sit, after listening to what has been happening in Tuvalu, Kenya and New York, not to mention what I have already read in this document, I must ask. Is shackling those who can and will stand between us and those whose abilities we cannot hope to stand against our best option?"
"Mister Secretary-General, if I may?" Secretary Ross asked from where he now stood at his seat to the side.
"That is why I asked you here today, Secretary Ross," Didimus said, waving his hand from Ross to the centre of the floor. "You were involved in the creation of the Sokovia Accords from the very first day and you are one of the ones with the most experience with powered individuals."
By the time that Didimus had finished speaking, Ross had crossed the room and was now standing at what anyone with military experience would recognise as 'parade rest'
"Thank you, Mister Secretary-General, Delegates," Ross began. "I have seen the same reports that you have all seen and, while I can understand the Wakandan delegates' questions, I do not share them. Yes, there has been a rise in incidents from those with enhanced abilities. But I firmly believe that we would have seen this rise regardless of whether or not the Sokovia Accords were brought into effect. My opinion is that they are working! None of the Avengers or the X-men or any of the others have broken the law. Which is what we wanted, what the law is designed for.
"But as to the question of whether we should consider 'unshackling them'? The answer must be a resounding 'no'! We do not want even more powered people running about making a mess of things and getting innocent civilians killed."
"Then how do you propose that we solve the crisis at hand, Secretary Ross?" Gillian Bird asked. "It has been made abundantly clear to me that conventional police and military tactics are not enough to deal with these types of situations."
"You're right, they're not," Ross replied. "But I believe that I have a solution for that, one that this great Assembly once agreed with: we have our own response team. Once, we'd offered to make the Avengers our response team, to go into places and situations under our guidance and authority to deal with these very incidents. But they said no. So, I would like to propose that you give me the authorisation to create a team that will agree to work within the UN guidelines that you set and can then deal with any situation that arises."
"And where do you propose to get these individuals from?" the Canadian delegate asked.
"It sounds to me as though you already have individuals in mind," Delegate Haley stated shrewdly.
"You're right. I do have some in mind. And I know exactly where the individuals that could be convinced to agree to our oversight can be found. They've been languishing in a facility called the Raft for quite some time now and I'm sure that they'll be eager to do anything that we want them to in return for some freedom, no matter how limited," Ross replied.
"Who?" Didimus asked, his eyes narrowed.
"Captain Emil Blonsky ..."
"The Abomination!" Didimus exclaimed, cutting the man off. "You want to recruit known super-villains to work for the United Nations? Are you insane, man?"
"I firmly believe that with the right motivation that they can become a team that will work for us, not against us," Ross argued.
"And what, you'll call them the 'Thunderbolts'?" Haley scoffed, causing Didimus to raise his eyebrows at the unexpected use of Ross' military nickname. "No. I know of the individuals in the Raft – both what they're capable of and what crimes they committed in order to be placed there in the first place. We do not want them let out of the facility under any circumstances. They'll cause more problems than they'll fix."
"Then what's your solution, Ambassador?" Ross asked snidely.
"We dissolve the Sokovia Accords completely and let those who have proven themselves as working for the people of the world, those who are dedicated to doing what is right, to do their jobs," Nakia stated flatly.
Didimus had to quickly school his face from the smile that threatened to appear at the undertones of approval that quietly swept through the room at Nakia's declaration.
"Can that even be done?"
"How would that work?"
"Would the Avengers and the others even be willing to come out of 'retirement' and stop these incidents from happening?"
Slowly, steadily, more and more voices were being raised, not only towards the floor of the room but as delegates began debating with their neighbours. Before the room got completely out of control, Didimus pressed the button that produced a deep gonging sound. Almost instantly, the room fell silent.
"Delegate Nakia of Wakanda, is there something that you'd like to say?" Didimus asked pointedly.
For a second, he wondered if she'd get his hint. Thankfully, it only took a second for comprehension to dawn in her eyes.
"Thank you, Mister Secretary-General," she replied. "Delegates. I move the motion that the Sokovia Accords, also known as the Superhuman Registration Act, be declared null and void."
"A motion has been voiced," Didimus stated. "Do we have a Seconder?"
"I Second the motion," Delegate Simati of Tuvalu replied.
"Very well. We have a motion and a Seconder. I know open the floor for discussion," Secretary-General Didimus Gonzales declared.