Chapter 82: Judgement Day XI (Mass release 3 arc ends)

For thirty-one minutes, the world had teetered on the brink of madness.

Ever since the Jester’s declaration of the worldwide purge, a wave of chaos had swept across the globe. The fear of certain death had pushed people over the edge. It drove some to anarchy, while others, in a twisted display of passion, saw the madman’s purge as a long-overdue form of justice.

Riots erupted in major cities. Mobs roamed the streets, some looting in blind panic, others shockingly chanting Veritas’s name as they set fire to symbols of the society he condemned. It looked like the world was tearing itself apart from the inside out.

Then, exactly thirty-one minutes after the broadcast began, it stopped.

The screens in every home, every public square, every handheld device that had shown the horrors of the Ashen Apocalypse suddenly flickered to static, then went black.

The Jester’s voice, which had held the entire planet hostage, was gone.

For a moment, a stunned silence fell over the world.

And then, a new image appeared. It was the official seal of the President of the United States.

And then the President himself appeared on every screen. His face was stern but calm. He stood behind a podium in the White House briefing room.

“My fellow citizens, people of the world,” he began. “A short time ago, a dangerous terrorist held us all hostage with a threat of unimaginable destruction. I am here to tell you… that threat is over.”

He explained that the government and the military had successfully stopped the Jester’s apocalyptic plan. The situation was finally under control.

To prove his point, the President revealed the truth behind the threat and explained the secret blueprints of the SHIELD satellite network. He had to do that to win back the world’s trust.

The President went on to explain the SHIELD satellite network and revealed how the military had managed to destroy every satellite connected to it.

That included the Insight satellite.

The most important one.

Without it, the targeting system used by the Insight Helicarriers would be useless. The weapons could no longer identify and lock onto targets across the planet. Even the stolen Helicarrier that the madman had taken control of was now effectively blind.

The President made sure to emphasize that point.

“The threat has been neutralized,” he said firmly. “The satellites required for this attack have been destroyed, and the weapons systems can no longer carry out the terrorist’s plan.”

Across the globe, a collective sigh of relief washed over humanity. The panic in people’s hearts finally began to ease. They had nothing to fear anymore.

The world had survived.

“We must also give our deepest gratitude to the brave heroes who fought tooth and nail against this evil terrorist,” he said, looking directly into the camera.

“Captain America, members of the X-Men, and Spider-Woman risked their own lives to keep the villain occupied and unable to activate the insight satellites. They bought our government the exact amount of time we needed to get the Satellites’ coordinates and lock onto them to launch the strike. Today, humanity stands victorious because of their incredible grit.”

“The heroes are still currently trying to apprehend the terrorist. Let’s pray that they succeed.”

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The worldwide stream may have ended, but the T-Stream app’s inbuilt broadcast to all devices was still active. However, it had a maximum range of 100 kilometers, so only the people of Washington were able to see his ongoing stream.

But since they had realized they were safe now, they were no longer his hostages.

And as they saw the Jester’s defeated figure standing silently on that Helicarrier, a melody of a violin filled the surrounding air. The music was chaotic and rough, with a tempo that perfectly captured the escalating psychotic madness inside the Jester.

[Auto BGM: Homelander’s Theme]

Luke had prepared himself for this possibility. Hijacking Hydra’s plan meant inheriting the flaws in their design. But knowing it could fail and feeling the failure happen were two very different things.

He was this close. This close to victory…

The thought of the massive loss, the billions of Terror Points that had slipped through his fingers just 4 minutes before the end, stung with an almost physical pain.

He stood there for a few moments, lamenting his bad luck. As he did, the sky above the Helicarrier began to change. The clouds turned a dark, bruised purple, and loud thunder started to rumble in the air.

Veritas paid no attention to Spider-Woman standing right in front of him. He slowly turned his head to look at the unnatural weather. In the distance, he spotted a sleek black jet cutting through the stormy sky. It was heading straight for them.

That was the Blackbird — the X-Men’s jet.

That meant the weather was Ororo’s doing. And if Storm was here, Jean Grey was almost certainly on that ship too.

It was time to leave this place, Veritas thought. He let out a quiet sigh and turned his masked face back toward Spider-Woman.

“I am taking my leave now, Miss Spider,” Veritas said, his voice calm. “But you should know that I am not your real enemy.”

Gwen gritted her teeth. She forced herself to take a step forward, but her battered body made her stumble. With the Blackbird on the horizon, they finally had enough firepower to actually take him down.

She needed to keep him on the deck somehow.

“Stay and fight, Veritas,” Gwen taunted. “Or are you afraid now?”

Veritas just tilted his head. The heavy, serious atmosphere around him vanished instantly, and his usual mocking and playful energy returned.

“I know you want me, Spider-Woman,” he said, “But you really need to control your urges.”

Before she could even raise her wrist to shoot a web, ash swirled up around him in a sudden, silent spiral – and he was gone.

[Public Comments:]

[Owais: Guys we’re saved!!!! I can’t believe the government actually did something right for once!! 🎉🎉🎉]

[Adorable_Filter: sigh…]

[Emily: @Adorable_Filter that is not a sigh of relief is it? You’re disappointed Veritas failed, aren’t you?]

[Caffeine_Witch]: The President said it’s over. The satellites are destroyed. He can’t target anyone anymore. WE’RE SAFE. Finally.

[ConspiracyTheorist_X]: What if this was all part of the plan? What if he WANTED the satellites destroyed? What if this is exactly what he wanted?

[Noah: @ConspiracyTheorist_X Veritas is a plain ol madman terrorist. Ass theory. You did not cook bro… 🥀🥀🥀🥀]

[Pizza_Time: So… do I still have to go to work tomorrow? ]

[NoobMaster69: Bro got third-partied by the President and decided to rage quit back to the lobby. ]

[Edgelord_Supreme: The President ruined everything. The purge would have fixed the housing market.]

[Misa: nooo please don’t gooo 😭😭😭 come back💦]

[Lunaticia: See you soon, my lord.

[Amaira: Veritas… same time tomorrow??]

The Jester had disappeared, but his floating phone still hovered in the air for a few seconds.

And just when Gwen shot her web at the annoying phone, it disappeared like it was never even there.

And just like that, the stream finally ended for the people of Washington as well.

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Luke had teleported away two Helicarriers.

One was for his personal use. The other one he teleported because he had bombarded it with missiles, and it was crashing straight down on the heads of everyone at the Triskelion, whether they were SHIELD or Hydra.

The destroyed Helicarrier ended up on an uninhabited island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He had put a mark on this island during his flight to India a few days ago for the Lemurian Star hijack. That long flight really paid off.

After appearing at the crash site, he spent a couple of hours salvaging what he could. The My Terror Hideout feature provided an auto-repair function for his main base, but it never hurt to have spare parts.

He spent 4 hours teleporting cables, missile pods, anti-air cannons, and a few mainframe chips from the smoking wreckage. Luckily, there were no surviving Hydra agents to bother him while he worked.

After all that work, he now had to hide this carrier.

The carrier did not have its own anti-surveillance gear, unlike the carrier he registered in My Terror Hideout, so some random satellite might have snapped a picture when it first arrived.

Well, even if someone found it, there was nothing to worry about. But still, why make it easy for them?

‘I’ll probably just fly a few thousand miles, teleport it on the ocean, and let it drown. And then teleport to my new base…’

And he did exactly that.

An hour later, Luke stood on the deck of his real prize, Insight Helicarrier IN-01, floating peacefully in the middle of nowhere.

The sun was already low on the horizon, painting everything orange and gold. He walked to the edge, checked the mission results on his phone, and let out a long sigh.

Failed.

The major criteria were missed. The app needed the hostages held for the full minimum stream time, but the world got “rescued” four whole minutes early.

Billions of Terror Points… gone.

Just like that.

Still, Luke wasn’t going to cry over spilled milk.

He achieved his main goal for the day. He got himself a top-tier flying hideout. On top of that, he raked in more than 7000 Terror Points from donations alone. That was a pretty amazing profit for a failed mission.

These past three days felt like an absolute eternity to him. The Lemurian Star hijack, the highway revenge, and today’s crazy stream all happened back-to-back. He was exhausted.

Luke decided he was going to take a few weeks off before planning his next big stream. He wanted to spend some time doing normal things.

He would spend some time doing what he wanted, with the family he had always wanted.

Phil, his dad, had already texted him earlier. The man wanted to build a batting cage in the backyard, but his mother wanted to build a she-shed.

Luke knew what a man cave was, but it was probably the first time he had heard the term she-shed.

But still…

‘What did he mean by “take care of it wink? What does he want me to do about it?’

Luke actually smiled under the mask at the thought.

Luke let out a long sigh as he sat down on the edge of the carrier.

His legs dangled thousands of feet in the air as he watched the peaceful sunset.

Slowly, he reached up and pulled the white Jester mask off his face.

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Season 1 END

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What’s in for Season 2:

A more balanced approach on Luke/Veritas dual identity. (Well, I wanted to do that from the start but winter soldier arc kinda messed it up since all the events happen in the span of 2-4 days. I obviously dragged it out. )

Major majooooooooor progress in romance. (The kind that’d make you cum in your pants, for people wondering if lemons will be there… well duh this is NovelPhoenix…)

Organization building. (Remember how I have been trying to set it up slowly? It’ll take in an actual shape.)

Also, Veritas sure might have crushed his opponents in the past couple of arcs but please don’t mistake him for all power. He’s just careful in choosing his opponents. There are plenty of Marvel hitters that could wipe the floor with him right now.

Last but not the least, I know Veritas actually lost this time. But for the plot reasons, I obviously couldn’t hand him over the billions of TP just like that.

Hope you understand, thanks.