"Agent Coulson, report."
"Sir, we have not been able to procure a DNA sample much less a hair or a cell from Cerion Vex." said Coulson in a calm voice even if he was on the business end of Fury's stare.
"Three months and not a single sample from our alien guest?" Fury asked incredulously.
"Yes sir."
"We do have Hill on the field right?"
"Yes sir."
"And yet we haven't got a single genetic sample from our goes. Why?"
"We have accessed all his personal belongings clothes, watch, bed sheets, carpet and even the garbage but we have not found any traces of genetic samples. Our best possible guess is that he cleans up neatly or there is nothing to clean up." said Coulson
"Do elaborate Coulson." said Fury with some confusion.
"Several of our analysts believe that Mr Vex simply do not age like normal humans. Another group is of the opinion that he does not age at all."
"So you are telling me that we have an immortal alien amongst us?" Fury asked in disbelief.
"Not exactly sir. It is entirely possible that this is due to Mr Vex's physiology. He has not at all shared anything about Kryptonian genetics with us." Coulson reminded his boss.
For a time Fury remained silent looking thoughtfully at the table in his room.
"What do you think about him?" Fury asked finally.
"Every psych profile we have on him puts him as a friendly. Agent Hill also speaks favourably of him."
"What else she has to say about him?" asked Fury
"He does not mix well with large crowds. She thinks he is physically restraining himself to behave in a certain way to blend in." said Coulson before he hastily added, "This was something our analysts predicted as extra-terrestrial lifeforms may have a different relationship with time than humans."
"Do you think it was a bad idea to throw him out into the open?" asked Fury as he scrolled through the images taken by the agents assigned to keep an eye on Cerion.
"Locking him up in our base would have been counterproductive. There was a significant chance that he would have turned hostile at some point. We did clock him as a friendly in our initial assessment. Having him operate in the open has done some good to him and we did collect a ton of data without pissing off a super-powered alien." said Coulson with a shrug. "I would say the risks were there but very minimal and the decision was a sound one. Anyway, it seems to work out in the end."
Coulson nodded at a picture of Cerion with a woman in a café.
"Who am I looking at?" asked Fury
"That would be Jane Foster sir. She is a research fellow in Culver."
"Their relationship?"
"They are neighbours as Miss Foster lives opposite to Mr Vex's room. As far as we know they are friends."
"Keep an eye on them."
"Will do sir." Coulson nodded before he hesitated. Fury didn't miss the look that passed through Coulson's face.
"Come off it Coulson."
"Sir, shouldn't we have asked him about the Kree, Skrull or any other extraterrestrial civilizations out there?" asked Coulson. After all intel on alien civilizations were a goldmine and if it could be delivered freely all the better.
"I don't want to spook him. Besides we don't know whether Krypton has any standing alliances with the Kree. If they do then I don't want any possible blowback affecting us in any way. We just found someone with similar powers to Carol Danvers and I would like to build some trust with our guest." said Fury leaning back into his seat casting a speculative eye to the image of Cerion Vex and Jane Foster. "Let him roam the Earth under our watch and let things progress organically. Sooner or later he will develop attachments on our planet and that we will exploit for the safety and security of this planet."
"Sir, there is also another potential problem." said Coulson which made Fury raise an eyebrow in interest.
"We have been monitoring the status of Mr Vex's ship using our satellites orbiting the moon. There is a distinct possibility that other space agencies will pick up the ship's location especially with all the solar panels clustering around the ship's general location." said Coulson
"That is not good." Fury said with a sigh. "We cannot exactly transport the ship into our atmosphere. We do not have a spacecraft capable of doing such a thing and even if it was possible there will be security risks. A space mission of that scale will not go unnoticed."
"What do we do sir? If anyone gets an idea of what's going on then the situation will spin out of our control." said Coulson
Fury stood up from his seat and stared off into the bright sky outside. The sun was about to go out but the sky remained as bright as it could be possible. A few minutes later he came to a decision.
"Clear my schedule on Friday. I think it's time that I pay a visit to Mr Vex."
"How am I doing?" asked Cerion with his eyes closed sitting cross-legged on the floor of his apartment.
"You are doing very well Cerion. Your energy output is steady but it could be better. Now slowly open your eyes and see for yourself." said the Ancient One.
Cerion did exactly that and he saw that a bubble of energy was surrounding him. The bubble was silver-white on the outside but he could actually feel the energy that was now thrumming in his veins.
"You are doing good Cerion. Now, concentrate and absorb back the energy into your body."
He did as the Ancient One suggested and folded his energy into himself. When the process was complete he was on his feet and did a fist pump. "Yes!" He was mindful of his actions as he didn't want to accidentally blow the upper levels of the building.
"There is a long way yet to go but for the moment this is an improvement." said the Ancient One and with a snap of her fingers, she dismissed the Mirror Dimension.
"But I am improving right?"
"Indeed. You have managed to exert some control over the energy inside your body. But our task is to control the energy intake into your body which is easier said than done. The time dilation field has disenchanted one of the most essential links between your soul and body. I have seen this happen and it will take time for your body sync with the energy you now wield."
"I will get there eventually. After all, we have only practised this for a week and that too in your presence." said Cerion before sinking into a couch with a bottle of beer in his hand.
He had noticed some subtle ageing on his body and had assumed it was the result of his exposure to Yellow Sun radiation or a time dilation field. It was the Ancient One that confirmed the time dilation theory. He had no reason to disbelieve her as she would be the foremost expert on anything related to time. His eyes scanned for the Time Stone on her person but he came up empty.
"Speaking of which how goes your Sanskrit learning?" asked the Ancient One as she sat opposite to him in a couch breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Not that well as I would like." Cerion admitted. "But I am trying my best with the time I have. It is not exactly an easy language to learn."
"Anything can be learned if you work hard enough. Soon you will have to spend some time in Kamar Taj. There is a limit to which I can teach you if you are on this side of the globe."
"I will have to cut into the time of my work on the ship. Not to mention SHIELD will notice that I am missing from the crash site. I don't want to alarm them even more without due cause."
"Don't you worry. An opportunity will present itself soon enough. Do train with the sling ring Cerion. You will be needing it shortly."
Having said her piece the Ancient One stood up from the couch and created a portal in a jiffy.
"What do you mean by that?" Cerion asked with a frown as he too stood up.
"You will see." Ancient One said with a smile before her eyes flickered to the door. "Answer your door."
Before he could ask what that meant the Ancient One stepped into the portal and it closed up on the fly. For a short moment, he stared blankly at the space where the portal was before a knock on the door distracted him.
Making sure there was nothing out of the ordinary in his room he opened the door only to let out an internal sigh of relief as his late-night guest turned out to be Jane Foster. Only two weeks had passed since Jane Foster moved into the apartment across his own. In that short time, a tentative friendship had blossomed between them.
"Do you know what time it is?" Jane asked with a cross look on her face. Her raven hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing a white hoodie over a white round neck shirt with black jeans. It looked as if she was dressed to go out which she usually doesn't do often at night.
"Mmm…" that was all he could let out as his brain short-circuited for a moment.
"It's quarter past seven. Did you forget that today was takeout night?" asked Jane and it was then that everything clicked into clarity for him.
"Ah, I simply forgot about that. Just let me get my jacket."
He hurried back into his bedroom and plucked a jacket out of his closet. A few minutes later he was walking beside Jane through the street on the way to a nearby restaurant.
"How come you forgot this was the takeout night?" asked Jane
"Contrary to your belief I do have to work during the day. I simply was busy with some work and forgot."
"Oh yeah…What exactly are you working on?" asked Jane which gave him pause.
"I see what you are doing."
"What?" she asked innocently.
"You are trying to find out what I am working on." Cerion accused with a flat stare.
"Hey, you can't blame me for being curious." defended Jane
"Have you ever heard the saying curiosity killed the cat?" asked Cerion just before they reached the restaurant and held out the door for Jane.
"Only in passing." said Jane before hopping inside.
"Figures." He mumbled before following her inside.
He took a seat across Jane at their usual table.
"So what are you having today?" asked Jane as she browsed through the menu provided by the waitress.
"I wanted to try Thai food. Mmm…." He browsed through the dishes until finally, his eyes struck gold. "I think I will have Panang Curry."
"Truly! Have you ever had Thai food before?" asked Jane
"Once or twice. You?"
"Never tried any so far. Is it any good?" asked Jane
"Trust me you will love it." He said with a thumbs up.
"What the hell. Might as well try this one. Panang Curry was it?"
Eventually, both of them ordered the dish and tucked in.
"Mmm…." Jane moaned. "It tastes good."
"Far better than the horrible thing you cooked in your kitchen right?" asked Cerion with a grin.
"I seem to remember that you were not much better." said Jane waving her fork threateningly not at all happy to be reminded of her failed attempt at cooking.
"I am just out of practice. Give me one month and I will surprise you." He challenged.
"How about a bet?" asked Jane
"The stakes?" he leaned forward in interest
"April 30 will be the deadline. You learn to cook within that time and if you impress me I will give you….." Jane thought hard but couldn't come up with anything.
"Give me a personal tour of your college especially your lab. And I get access to your research notes." He supplied with a victorious grin.
"Hey, that's too much…." She trailed off as an idea came to her mind. A smile blossomed on her face as she realised she could turn this around.
"Alright, I will give you the tour of the college and access to my lab. My research notes are off the table but I can agree to unrestricted access on my research under several conditions."
"Name them."
"You have to impress me with your cooking which is a given."
"Alright." He agreed
"You will have to tell me where you work right now and you have to tell me exactly what you are working on if I win the bet. Deal?" she offered her hand which he shook after thinking things through.
"You have a deal, Jane."
"So tell me exactly where do you work?" asked Jane
Cerion merely fished out his ID card from the pocket of his jeans and slid it across the table. He did enjoy the wide-eyed/open-mouthed expression Jane was sporting. If nothing else that made his day.
Before he could tease her his phone ringed. Knowing that only very few people knew his number he deduced this was a call that demanded immediate attention.
"Hello."
"We haven't met yet but I would like to meet you. Just turn your head to the left." A sharp voice spoke from the phone.
Version turned his head to the left and sure enough, there was a black dude in a full dark emo pirate theme standing outside in the street.
"I am Nicholas Fury, Director of SHIELD. We need to talk."
AN:
Sultan Asil Arslan: Ask and you shall receive. Thank you for your support pal.
jiubantai-taichoCalmejaneJose: Why make unnecessary enemies on Earth. A lot of events are going to happen on Earth. If Cerion has unrestricted access he can propagate his interests without any pesky pests butting in.
LuciferRedeemed: At the moment it seems he can't age.
GrandmasterAtom: Thank you for your heartfelt support.
Crywolfseven: I did notice some of the mistakes in the previous chapters. I will be correcting those shortly. I have a tendency to mistakenly type letters. O become I in most of the words. Then the auto-correct take matters into its own hands and bam a completely different word is spawned out. Sorry for that.
AnimeA55Kicker: Superman did age normally like any normal humans. It stands to reason that he would eventually die of old age. It is possible he will have a long lifespan but he is definitely not immortal.
The Incedible Mr BassMan: Thank you for your support. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.
Declan: I agree. Hope I have improved in this chapter.
ImaginativeFury: I get it. You want Cerion to punch all issues away or just spear through obstacles effortlessly. Unfortunately, Cerion is of a different character. He is playing the long game and he is a patient guy. He did carefully plan an escape from Krypton and that takes careful planning and a mountain of patience. I am just following the character.
The Fallen Fox: I was moved by your review. Consider this a late Christmas present.
aceron: Thank you for that wonderful review. I have not yet decided on any inhuman plot but I will give it some serious thought.
Depressed Panda: The Ancient One was actually talking about Ego. He is the Celestial that sneaked into Earth.
TheCuriousGuest: Oh yeah. He can hold any Infinity Stone without any physical repercussions. However, the stones are versatile. They can not only affect the body but the mind as well. But one or two stones like the power or reality stones won't hamper Cerion.
Night-Stryder: Cerion:- Se-re-on
Thank you for all of your support. There are some issues with my writing style. I am working on that. Thank you for all the advice. Please don't hesitate to point out any flaws. It helps to flush out the bad chunks in my writing and the plot.