Marvel: I'm a Symbiote

As a few more months passed and chaos caused by the execution policy died down, its effects were prevalent throughout the country. Now, the public was under the impression that the ruthless man currently leading them wouldn't cause any more upheavals and would instead focus on campaigning for votes in the upcoming election. Unfortunately for all the media outlets who were theorizing about his backers and election plans, the man got another bill passed by Congress that even got a special vote from the Federal Election Commission. This new policy directly affected every single one of the country's citizens, leading to a tumultuous and almost violent reaction from many states, with even the governors speaking up in protest.

This policy had to do with a new product released by the government. The Gaia Bracelet. This single product's reveal directly harmed the interests of not only the country's smartphone manufacturers but also the entire telecommunications industry. These bracelets, produced by military researchers, were not only going to replace smartphones but everything related to remote communication as well.

Everything from banking, communication, internet access, and even voting was going to be done through the Gaia Bracelets. The press release resulted in an uproar. As an isolated event, it would seem like the government was centralizing many overpriced and inefficient systems by breaking the monopoly of a few large corporations, working toward the benefit of the public. But public sentiment after his previous policy regarding criminals sentenced to death had already left them full of unrest. Suddenly, the entire country was in chaos as half of the country's population took to the streets.

The President, unwilling to cave to the public's demands, doubled down and directly invoked countrywide martial law for the first time in history.

The situation reached something of a stalemate as the military spread throughout the country and suppressed revolts by any means necessary. A month after the announcement of the bill, suddenly, the intensity of the revolts directly died down, with most of the protestors giving up or losing motivation. A week after the decrease was noticed by prominent media outlets, the news finally caught on that most of the large telecommunication companies had declared bankruptcy. The same happened with most smartphone manufacturers, but some of them also survived due to having lineups in different domains.

At this point, the entire country's communication infrastructure was on track to be completely reliant on the Gaia Bracelet's foundation, which the scholars still hadn't figured anything out about because of the robust confidentiality regarding the product. While the populace was still skeptical, the benefits were too good to be overlooked now that they looked at the product objectively. The current system would essentially hijack the existing networking infrastructure and, while relying on the Gaia Bracelet as an authentication and payment system, would allow the cost of the internet and many other services to drop to dirt-cheap prices.

To someone who looked in from an outsider's perspective, the situation seemed almost funny in how formulaic it was. The previous bill had targeted the private prison systems, to which they retaliated by trying to use public opinion in their favor, only to be forced to declare bankruptcy later. The events that happened with the telecom industry were almost identical, but merely on a far larger scale. It was expected, considering the sheer difference when it came to money, resources, and influence in terms of both industries. The corporations behind the private prisons could barely make a splash, but the massive telecom industry's move was enough to shake the entire country if not for the inhuman efficiency of the President's moves. Far too much had happened within the span of a single month.

A month after the whole debacle, the Gaia Bracelets finally rolled out to the public. Since resistance toward the bill had been largely curbed by the previous events, the citizens were suddenly very willing to take the bracelets and register themselves with the Gaia AI.

Once people started using it, the positive reviews finally rolled out, encouraging even more people to voluntarily buy them, even on credit. By the end of the month, only a tenth of the country's population was yet to buy the bracelets, and that was soon to turn to zero before the next month, considering how essential the device suddenly was. Everything from the citizen ID to their banking details and more was handled by the Gaia Bracelet, making it an essential part of being a citizen of the country.

After so many crazy things, the President finally focused on normal presidential things, like campaigning for reelection. The presidential elections were very close, and the current President wasn't pulling his punches. With a direct campaign dedicated to spreading the deeds of the Alex administration in a positive light, public opinion quickly swayed as they realized that despite the forceful and almost ruthless methods of the man, in the past couple of years, he had indeed brought many positive changes to not only the country but also the world.

…

"You are insane, you know that?" Felicia spoke as she read a document from a hologram that emerged from her bracelet. It was an analytical report on public sentiment that Gaia had generated for her. "Solely with this bracelet, you can take over the world. Those pay-to-win mobile Gacha game companies should take inspiration from you when it comes to predatory marketing practices. I used to think that China was bad with its twisted systems, especially regarding the sharing of information, but you are far worse."

Alex had a dry expression as Felicia continued criticizing him under the guise of praise for another two minutes.

"I'm trying different things," he said once she was done. "Here, I'm playing the full dictator, but on the other Earth, I'm playing the democracy advocate. Of course, there are nuances to the situation."

"Don't you think that it's a bit of a mouthful to call it 'the other Earth' every time?" Felicia said with a wince.

"Research Earth is just as much of a mouthful," Alex shrugged.

"Can't you come up with a better naming convention for the planets that join the Gaia Cluster? Research and Farm sound so … boring. And before you say, not the numbers thing. It's a troublesome thing to call the planets of a single cluster by those multiversal IDs."

"What do you suggest then? Earth Alpha and Earth Beta?"

"Better than research and farm."

"At least those are self-descriptive," Alex said. "This Earth is my Bioenergy farm, and that Earth is my research center."

"It works for now, but what are you going to do when more planets are added? There needs to be an official term."

"That's where the numbers come in," Alex said. "Multiversal IDs are as unique as the name of an Earth can get."

"Can't you just agree?" Felicia stomped her foot on the carpet, resulting in a suppressed thud. "I want to talk about cool things like Earth alpha and beta. Not boring ass names like farm and research."

Alex closed his eyes and took a breath. "How did we get from a meeting about my campaign to changing the name of this Earth?"

"It's important," Felicia's expression was solemn as if she was talking about a world-ending threat.

"I think I need to schedule a week of behavioral therapy for you on the first floor of my farm," Alex said. "A few women with special preferences have already signed the necessary contracts to spend a year there. You would have plenty of company."

"Come on …" Felicia approached him and unceremoniously sat on his lap. "What would your campaign do if I suddenly disappeared, huh? Things would immediately halt."

"True … I shouldn't have delegated any of that work to you."

"No, it's good that you delegated it to me," she said, holding his face between her hands. "You shouldn't do everything yourself. Find competent people to delegate things to. It makes things much easier."

"Sooner or later, Gaia will be able to do that and more. I only need to get her to the level that she can work as an autonomous system for me. I will be able to replace the work of so many of my clones if it works correctly."

"Fine, we'll put the name thing on the back burner. But it's cooking. And I'm going to make sure that you eat it all up. This planet will have a cooler name than goddamn Farm Earth."

"I'll look forward to it. Now, if you could get back to the report, that would be very good," Alex said.

"Fine," Felicia smiled and leaned closer to Alex, making him rest his cheek on her chest as he looked at the contents of the document in her hands. "Your approval rating is already in the nineties in the southern and midwestern states. The coastal states, specifically New York and California, have particularly bad ratings. Considering your actions toward large corporations, it's understandable. But at this point, even if we stop the main campaign push and leave everything to Gaia's marketing, you will be President without the need to rig any votes."

"I guess a celebration is in order," Alex smiled.

"I think that the real-time to celebrate will be when you alter the constitution itself to allow you to reign for more than two terms."

"True," Alex nodded. "If things go according to my mental plan, twenty years should be enough for things to settle down enough that I can introduce the external invaders, ultimately establishing my Apex Empire."

"Not the Gaia Empire?" Felicia asked, unphased since she was already aware of his future plans.

"Of course not," he said. "It's not exactly the most striking name. Apex Empire is much more striking."

"So you do get me!" Felicia's eyes brightened. "You understand why I don't want to have my planet called a farm, right?"

"Not only will your planet continue to be called that, my Fel. It will be called just The Farm in the future, without the distinction of Earth."

"No!" Felicia shouted and shifted her position. "I won't let you. I'll smother you with my tits until you change your mind."

The duo continued playing around and dealing with things related to Alex's administrative duties.

***

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