"Why are you laughing like that?" Cerion asked as he watched Jane trying and failing to suppress laughter.
"It's just amusing to me that you, an alien, is decorating a Christmas tree of all things."
"Why? Christmas is part of your culture."
"You do know that it's is a religious celebration right?" asked Jane as she handed over a few strips of tinsel.
"Not really. It hardly has anything to do with religion nowadays." he said pointing to himself and the Christmas tree he was painstakingly prepping up. "Christmas holidays have become an excuse for exchanging gifts and saying nice things about people you disagree with. All in all a good day."
"Still, aren't you bothered by the religion and its significance behind it?"
He stopped decorating and focused on Jane.
"Why do you ask?"
"I'm just curious how you view humanity and the religions that we created? If you haven't noticed, Earth's religions are very self-centric."
"Do you believe in God?" he asked instead
"Of course not! I'm a scientist and I learned there is no God when I learned Charles Darwin's Evolution. Else, I'll be a poor scientist."
"Alright. So, you refuse to believe there is a God. Say, I believe there is a God. What makes you or me any different?"
"Because your belief is based on assumption after reading a book while mine is a conclusion based on facts that I learned from many books."
"Essentially, the difference between you and me is that we think differently. Why should an alien care what you think? I'd rather be curious about how you act?"
"But religion deny there is life outside of Earth." Jane argued
"I don't think they do. Many of Earth's largest religions claim to hold the truth behind human existence, not the existence of the Universe. Besides religion is an inexpensive way of psychiatry. The mind of a sentient being is extremely volatile. When humanity was at a stage where they had no tools to delve into the nature of existence, someone came up with an explanation to settle them."
"You'd call religion a form of psychiatry?" Jane asked incredulously
"A very inexpensive one. Of course, it has its demons but still…" he shrugged before returning to the Christmas tree.
"I'd thought you'd have leaned on an Atheistic point of view."
"Jane, I can fly at the speed beyond hypersonic missiles. I can singlehandedly collapse a building if I have to. I can survive in outer space without air. The basic elements can't harm me. I can think and act at a speed that would baffle the human mind. Do you really think that the Universe has no spiritual dimension to it? The Atheistic argument will also not hold up since I know for sure there is a spiritual dimension to our existence beyond just matter."
"Interesting." said Jane with a strange look on her face.
Before he could decipher what she was thinking the doorbell rang. It has become second nature now for him to engage the necklace all the time. It sort of brought him normalcy to his life. Knowing everything that is happening under the Sun is turning out to be a curse rather than a gift nowadays.
"As they say, ignorance is bliss.' He thought before opening the door to see Maria Hill at his doorstep.
"Good morning." she waved friendly.
"Good morning to you too. Didn't think SHIELD would send you over."
"Are you busy?"
"No."
"Let's go then. The Director is waiting for you."
After a fifteen-minute ride on a car, he was lead to a helipad where a chopper was waiting for him. Cerion and Maria Hill took their seats and the chopper took off into the air.
"So, any Christmas plans? Or does SHIELD agents do not get Christmas day off?" he asked
"I've always noticed you're awfully familiar about Earth. Why is that?"
"Nice deflection. Do they train you for it or are you just naturally this defensive.?" He asked in exasperation.
"Earth was attacked by an alien fleet. I think you can extend me a bit of latitude here Cerion."
"Fair enough." he nodded as he looked around the chopper curiously. "So, shall I send you a Christmas gift or will it be inappropriate?"
"I'm not giving you my address." said Hill
"Why? Aren't we friends?" he put together a pained face.
"I don't know. Are we?"
"Ooh. Burn."
"You are far too happy and weird. What changed?"
"I'm glad you asked. I just had an epiphany. I assumed that I was different from humanity but perhaps I was wrong. I'm just as volatile, idiotic, pretentious and imperfect as you lot."
"That's great." Hill said sarcastically.
"It is, isn't it? It's liberating actually." he said as he sat back into his seat and pondered his mental state and how free he felt. Looking back he could only see a half-dead version of himself fighting and clawing against the world still influenced by the survival mode he employed in Krypton.
"I'm glad you found your true self. But we're here." said Agent Hill
True enough. When Cerion looked through the window glass he could see that land gave away to sea and an aircraft carrier along with a few destroyers down below. He engaged his enhanced vision and scanned the vessel further deeply.
It was no Hellicarrier. It was just an ordinary Aircraft Carrier but there was a whole lot of advanced weaponry inside the vessel. Not to mention, the four nuclear submarines circling the carrier fleet and some quinjets prepped and ready on the runway.
He did not believe they were turning their weapons hot on his behalf. Most likely, SHIELD has yet to backpedal from their war footing. Of course, he was also keeping an eye with his deep space scanners engaged for 24hrs. If the Kree decide to visit the Sol System he would know and he would send them a very warm gift. He was already modifying and weaponizing the space bridge since he had access to more facilities and resources from the Kree City.
The chopper set down on a helipad and he climbed out first followed by Agent Hill. He was led to a door where Agent Coulson was waiting with a placid smile.
"Good morning." Coulson greeted
"Good morning to you too. So, looking up are we?" asked Cerion
"We've got no choice. Thanks for the save yesterday."
"You know you are the first human to thank me. So, you are quite welcome."
"You are in a good mood." Coulson observed
"It's Christmas."
"That's a good reason as any I suppose." Coulson nodded before holding out a door for him. "After you."
Cerion obliged and came into the first. It was a large room fit for a conference and at the very middle, a large table was there stacked with files and photos. At the end of the table sat the one-eyed leader of SHIELD, Nick Fury.
"You have been busy." he noted as he took a peek at all the photos laid out on the table.
"You don't say. I haven't slept since yesterday's incident and I'm sure this is the same for almost all SHIELD military bases across the world." said Fury before standing up and slowly walked over to Cerion.
Fury stared for a whole one minute before fishing out a file from his trench coat.
"This is the satellite images we took of the Kree fleet. We also took certain images and recordings of your fight with the Kree." said Fury as he handed over the file to Cerion who flipped through the photos.
"Is there a question there?" he asked
"I have many."
"Ask away?"
"Why did the Kree attack you?" asked Fury
"That's the same question that I was meaning to ask you. Why were the Kree attacking Earth? It is not as if the Kree have any standing interests in your planet, is there?" Cerion lightly goaded knowing full well that Fury will think of the Tesseract.
"So, you are saying yesterday's events have nothing to do with you?" asked Fury
"As far as I know, no."
"I sense you are keeping secrets from us Mr Vex." said Fury
"Of course. You are not my trusted friend. Why should I spill my secrets to you?"
"Very well?" Fury sighed before he fished out another picture from the table. It was a picture of Cerion in space firing off his laser beam at the ships. "Explain this?"
"It is a picture of me in space trying to destroy a Kree ship." he said with a shrug
"That's impressive but I'm more interested in why you are not using any breathing equipment."
"I don't need one."
"I see. So that brings me to the question. Just what are you?" asked Fury
"Your fear is natural Director Fury. It is something that you have inherited from your evolutionary process and something that has helped you survive on this planet. But know that your planet will not be harmed by me. I have zero hostility towards humanity."
"That's all nice and well but just what are you? How can you survive space?" asked Fury
"I'm hardly the only one able to do so Director. There are many species capable of doing the same. You could say I don't need to breathe to live but I do prefer breathing. You should have learned by now that my body, while looks human, is anything but human-like."
"Oh, we noticed, Mr Vex." said Alexander Pierce who stepped into the room smoothly.
"Mr Vex, meet Alexander Pierce. He is the acting secretary of SHIELD. After yesterday's events, he insisted on meeting you." said Fury
"I see. Good to meet you, Secretary Pierce." Cerion shook hands with the man.
"Nick here is a sceptic in almost anything that looks too good to be true. That's part of his job. I have to say that I was also apprehensive of your intentions but certain events have shifted our priorities. So we would like you to extend an apology."
"Oh." he raised a curious eyebrow.
"We made a deal when you first touched down on Earth and we broke that deal with good reason mind you. But still, we broke your trust and for that, we apologise." said Pierce
"Apology accepted and I appreciate the gesture, Mr Secretary."
"That's good to hear." said Pierce with a pleasant smile but Cerion knew the man was a snake. "Now, the reason why we're so interested in gaining your DNA is that we have had the distinct pleasure of being infiltrated by aliens a few years back."
"I understand. Earth has been the recipient of visits by old races for a long time." said Cerion
"What do you mean?" asked Fury interjecting
"The Kree have visited your planet thousands of years ago. The same goes for Frost Giants, Asgardians, Celestials and many other old races. Earth has been the dumping ground for anything that ought to be hidden from the wider galactic community. Humans have largely remained ignorant of the origins and nature of the universe and you have stayed isolated for so long. If the Old races required something to be hidden, your planet has been the perfect place to do so as it is often dismissed as a backwater planet."
Cerion could already see the two men were thinking about recent findings in the last century itself. He knew HYDRA was already aware of the Kree's interest on Earth. The cult followers of Hive must have informed HYDRA about their ancient history. Or perhaps HYDRA was not aware of all the details. SHIELD and HYDRA certainly knew about the Tesseract and it is not as if these two gentlemen were going to doubt his words when the truth is staring right at their faces.
"Believe it or not we have also come to the same conclusion. So, this brings us to the reason why we requested this meeting. It is SHIELD's solemn duty to protect our planet from threats both from inside and outside. Can we depend on your support?" asked Pierce
"So long as Earth doesn't start a war with another civilization and you don't ask me to interfere in your own regional conflicts I will aid in the defence of this planet in whatever capacity I can."
An easy enough promise to keep one that he would have done so anyway. In return, he could now operate more freely with SHIELD's backing. And that's what Alexander Pierce was offering, SHIELD's support both financially and politically to advance Earth's defence mechanisms and technology.
Cerion could see a lot of advantages in such a deal. Pierce obviously thought to advance HYDRA's goals in the background. If HYDRA could infiltrate SHIELD then he believed he could do the same to spearhead his cause.
AN: Now that some backstory has unfolded, we can go to better parts of the plot. Space explorations are going to start so if any of you have any suggestions please put them forward. As for the Kree ship Cerion took, that will come up in future chapters.
ChildishAssassin: The Kree are not exactly a stagnant race. They are fighting a war and in war, it is quite natural to undergo weapons development. They would have obviously prepared for Captain Marvel. Hence the Gravity weapon. The assumption that villains are dumb and stagnant is a rather short-sighted thought.
Barbaric Bob: Asgard rarely interferes on Earth. Only when they think Earth is going to get wiped out do they intervene which is okay in my opinion. I think they seek to avoid an all-out war with the Kree for a dirtball planet that owes no allegiance to the throne of Asgard.
Soledge1: It is important for the MC to get a good backstory before others pop up. Hence the absence of other characters.
ilayhyams: I think this genius talk is getting out of hand. It started as someone asking 'why is Vex so stupid? Vex is as upper genius so he should be able to do stuff.' Vex is already a genius as he is a Kryptonian scientist and a student of Jor-El. He already accomplished a lot of feats within a year. The only constraints are Earth's mediocre technology and lack of resources. Somehow being not a dick is considered dumb. It was at this point I said not all Kryptonians are geniuses and brought up the fact that Kal El, Kara Zor El and Superboy accomplished not even half of what Vex accomplished in a year. So, I don't know why any of you are insisting Kryptonians are geniuses as a blanket statement? Kryptonians are as diverse as they come and are prone to make mistakes just as humans. Does that mean they are all dumb? No! Kryptonians under a yellow star has many augmentations but that is not a sign of genius in any way. It just means they have a higher potential to be a genius.
Denzel Eristhee: Oh, I know what to do. There was a poll on Spacebattles and the poll results favoured Vex to stay on Earth and explore space instead of creating a cloned Krypton. So, I aligned the story with the results of the poll.
Greed96: Glad to know you liked it.
GrandmasterAtom: Vex does not have the Codex. He was in Koron(Krypton's moon) when Jor-El stole the Codex. The idea was to trace his ancestors from his DNA and the DNA samples in his ship. He dismissed the idea of cloned Krypton. That doesn't mean he is not averse to create a natural born Kryptonian population. Of course, that is going to take a long time.
Khalucifer: Agreed wholeheartedly. The point I was making is that Genius is not a blanket ability of a race. Speed of thought and memory is great but genius is something beyond those two dimensions. Sure it helps to have these qualities. The argument started with Vex's supposed ingenious behaviour which is laughable. That's why I made the comparison between Vex and other Kryptonians like Kal El, Kara and Superboy.
rainfallMyth: I find it difficult to write romantic scenes. So, it is good to learn someone liked it.
M2R: Seldom do miracles happen. So, when they do you enjoy it!