6 April 2000
"Concentrate and sharpen your energy a bit more."
Cerion did as he was told, he pushed in more energy as slow as he could. Contrary to his wishes a tidal wave of energy rushed out through his palms breaking the structural integrity of the energy construct.
"You seem to be a bit distracted today. What has happened?" asked the Ancient One who was overseeing his training to control the energy flow within his body. It was an uphill battle to take control of his energy but the Ancient One was a patient teacher.
He let out a sigh and took a seat on the floor of his apartment. "I just had a conversation with Nick Fury a few days back."
"I gather it didn't go well." commented the Ancient One with an understanding nod.
"Oh, you have no idea…"
"So how has Earth been treating you?" asked Fury
Cerion eyed the leader of one of the largest spy organizations on Earth from the corner of his eyes. Both of them were sitting on a side bench by the street across the restaurant. Across the street, Jane was patiently waiting for him in the restaurant.
"The air is fresh, food is good, music is enjoyable, movies are good…"
"And people?" asked Fury smoothly cutting in.
"There are a lot of people and I emphasize the lot." He said as it was quite difficult to control his senses with so many people around. It was getting difficult to shut out the world and catch a few hours of sleep.
"Is that an issue?" asked Fury with an unreadable stare.
"No… it's just difficult to get used to but I will manage." said Cerion before directing a curious stare at the Director of SHIELD. "What brings you here Director Fury?"
"A situation has come up recently regarding your ship." said Fury eyeing Cerion keenly.
"My ship?"
"Yes. It has been brought to my attention that there is a strong possibility that other space agencies of our planet may detect the presence of your ship."
"So you want me to move the ship away from the moon?" asked Cerion
"Yeah. Is that doable?" asked Fury
Frankly, Cerion couldn't even entertain the thought of moving his ship anywhere. As of right now, his 'ship' was just a pile of metal with minimal structural integrity. Moving it across space would undo all of the patchworks he had done till now. Not to mention he would have to move it piece by piece as the ship was in fragments. Then there is the matter of transportation. Just how exactly can he transport…..
A light bulb blinked to life in his head and he subtlety palmed the sling ring in his pant's left pocket. Half the problem could be solved by using the sling ring but there was still the matter of an exact location to secure his ship. In the end, he had no choice. It was in his interest to keep his ship's existence away from the general public.
"I can try." He found himself say in the end.
"Good. If you need any help don't hesitate to ask. You are in contact with Agent Coulson aren't you?"
"Of course." He said and he remained seated while Fury stood up.
"In that case, it's time for me to take my leave. Do keep us in the loop when you decide to move your ship from the moon." said Fury as he made to take his leave.
"Director Fury. We are not finished." said Cerion hardly moving from his seated position. Cerion could hear the increase heart rate of Fury as the Director turned towards him.
"You have something else to discuss?" asked Fury
"Do take a seat Director." said Cerion and he patiently kept his silence until Fury sat back on the bench.
"I will not be keeping you appraised of my ship's location or its status anymore."
"But…"
Cerion didn't give the man time to comment as he turned on him with a glare. He noted Fury was palming a gun inside his trench coat.
Yeah, like that's gonna help, he thought with a mental scoff.
"When I first made contact with your organization we made a pact. I would share my technology, expertise and help to advance the human race. I asked for very little in return including the safety of Kryptonian genetics. You promised not to seek Kryptonian DNA and yet you have been trying your best to secure it. You have violated an agreement made under good faith. Your actions will have consequences Director Fury. I won't work with liars and thieves. You can expect unilateral adjustments in our agreement from my side as well. I just wanted to give you a heads up. Good day to you Director Fury."
Having said that he promptly walked across the street refusing to heed the calls of Nick Fury.
"That's what happened."
"Hmm… Was it necessary to antagonize the Director of SHIELD? You have only made them see you more as a threat now." said the Ancient One.
"They were already seeing me as a threat. Besides I needed to establish some ground rules in this alliance. I did give them most of what they asked. The least they could have done was to show a little respect to the agreement we signed in good faith."
"I would say it was an overreaction from your part. You could have handled it better." said the Ancient One
"I probably could have." he admitted reluctantly.
"What has happened has happened. There is no point in overthinking it. Have you moved the ship yet?"
"No. I have not yet decided on a location. Speaking of which I will be needing your help to move my ship."
"Oh really?"
"I am no expert in using the sling ring. You saw how my energy constructs are. Any portal I create will lack cohesion. I would only damage my ship further if I try to use the sling ring to transport it."
"Why exactly do you even need the ship? There is no point in searching for Krypton as I promise you your planet does not exist in this cosmos."
"I believe you but if I restore the ship I can access the rest of the universe. There is a chance that I can find a decent planet to restart the Kryptonian race." he said but the Ancient One merely shook her head.
"Are you sure that is a good idea?" asked the Ancient One.
"What do you mean?"
"You do know you are immortal and I assume you are going to use the cloning technology of Krypton to repopulate the universe with your race."
"What are you saying?"
"Just think about what you will unleash upon the universe if you clone yourself. The Universe will be filled with beings that will absorb untold amounts of universal energies. The balance of cosmos will fail with the existence of more Kryptonians. By attempting to raise Krypton you will erase the rest of the Universe." said the Ancient One.
"You can't be sure of that." He argued
"I am afraid I can. Now that you have taken the universal energies into your body I can see your future more clearly."
"My future?"
"Well, bits and pieces of possible outcomes would be the correct answer. If you make clones based on your DNA you will doom this reality to death."
"How? I am sure there are other immortal beings out there?"
"Indeed. And how will they take it when a race of immortals that suck the very life force of the universe suddenly appears in large numbers."
His eyes widened in realization. "War." He said grimly.
"War." The Ancient One agreed. "But not just any war. It will be a war that will shred even the tiniest of atoms. This universe will simply cease to exist."
"Is that why you restrict my knowledge about the mystic arts?" he asked
"To an extent yes. I cannot predict how you or any of your future descendants will turn out. If you turn against this reality then an adequate defence against you must be mounted. The Order of Mystic arts was formed to defend this reality against beings like yourself. It will be counterproductive to our efforts to teach you our secrets and at the same time it would be remiss to leave you uninformed."
"But I don't intend to be a threat to humanity."
"For now. Can you give an absolute guarantee that you won't become an enemy of humanity? Even the minute possibility of you turning against humanity is a chance that we can't ignore. The same can be said about SHIELD's actions."
"So you are defending their actions now?"
"No, I am merely giving you a little bit of insight lest you come to hasty conclusions. Try to see things from other perspectives."
For a moment the two of them remained silent. He believed that the Ancient One was being somewhat paranoid but he understood where she was coming from. That doesn't mean he had to like it.
This more than anything made him realize that he had to find alternate lodgings. No matter what his efforts to blend in with humanity was not going to work. Sooner or later he was going to get exposed and a lot of people would see a threat in him. It was natural to feel fear but there was a chance that it could truly make humanity unreasonable. He remembered the whole mutant-scare in MCU but thankfully he had heard no tale of mutants so far.
"I suppose I can understand why SHIELD did what it did and your reasons are completely valid of course." He admitted reluctantly.
"I shall explain some of my reluctance in teaching you at some other time. Now, you were saying something about your ship."
"I have to move the ship to someplace safe. It has to be away from the moon but I am at a loss. I thought about transporting it to Mars but as you can guess that is a long journey. I will have to drag the ship piece by piece approximately 200 million miles unless of course, you lend a hand."
Cerion watched the Ancient One mull it over for a short time.
"Why go for Mars when you can just keep your ship on Earth?" she asked
"I don't think anyone would be happy with that."
"Who's gonna know?"
"I have to say it is quite a beautiful sight." said the Ancient One as she looked at the Earth from the surface of the moon.
Cerion floated to her side wearing an identical space suit. He had loaned one to the Ancient One. He didn't know whether there was any magical spell to survive space if there was one she didn't mention it to him.
"Don't be dramatic. I bet you have visited the moon before." He commented.
"You can't deny that it is a beauty though. Just look…" she pointed at the blue ball of a planet that was some 200,000 miles away.
Taking a good look at the Earth himself he had to admit that it was a beauty like none other. No images could do justice to what he was seeing with his own eyes. He couldn't help but compare Earth and Krypton. Compared to Earth Krypton was a waste dump. There was no beauty to Krypton as green cover and oceans were very scarce in Krypton. Majority of the planet was covered with desert with little to no clouds or green cover. This left the skies bare for the sun to blare its full might on Krypton. The planet was resource-rich with exotic metals but Earth was truly heavenly compared to Krypton.
"And to think trillions of lifeforms call that blue dot their home. It makes you very small doesn't it?" asked the Ancient One
He gave her a deadpan stare.
"I think we have some better things to do rather than oozing philosophy on the Moon."
"You are right. Let's finish this quick enough." said the Ancient One before she waved her hands in a complex pattern.
Sparks of dimensional energy escaped the Ancient One's palms expanding across the surface of the moon in some sort of a bubble. Cerion could feel a slight tingle when the bubble enclosed around a large section of space that they occupied.
"Just something that will keep any activities here from any prying eyes." The Ancient One explained.
Cerion led the Ancient One down to the crater where he stationed his ship. The further they moved into the hole visibility began to decline.
"OPTIMA give us lights." He ordered and the drones working on the ship began to light up around the ship.
"That is a gigantic ship." Ancient One commented as they floated above the ship.
She took out the sling ring and began to create a portal.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Cerion asked
"I am sure now go to the other end and create a portal of your own. Maintain it for as long as you can and I will do the rest."
Heeding her advice he flew to the opposite end and began to create a portal. Just as he suspected it was a small portal prone to destabilize occasionally. The Ancient One on the other hand created a gigantic portal that dwarfed his own exponentially.
The portal created by the Ancient One began to swallow up the ship quite effortlessly. Branches of magical energy plunged into the portal he created and began to forcibly expand. He just maintained the energy output the best as he could and then in an instant the entire ship vanished before his eyes.
"Well, there you go. Now, come here. Let's go and see where your ship ended up in." said the Ancient One as she dismissed the bubble of magical ward and created a small portal. He stepped in first followed by the Ancient One.
A vast area of forest greeted him on the other side of the portal. His eyes traced his ship by a beachhead and as he used his enhanced vision around he found that he was on an island surrounded by sea. He could not see any land nearby in fact he could not see anything after a specific distance. It was as if his vision was being blocked somehow.
"We are near Huawei. This island had housed one of the oldest sanctums of our Order. Now it lie in ruins but the island remains intact. Shielded from the outside world by some of the oldest protective spells it can remain hidden from any prying eyes."
"This place is amazing." said Cerion as he took in the thriving wildlife on the island.
"Will this suffice?" the Ancient One asked
"This is perfect. How can I ever repay you?"
"Don't you worry. I will think of something when the time is right." she said before she ignited her thumb with a spark of energy and pressed it into his forehead.
He felt a wave of energy pass through his body and settle in. He looked at her curiously wanting to know what was that about.
"Now you can access the island whenever you please." the Ancient One said as a way of explanation.
"Oh yes. I can see it now." said Cerion as his vision penetrated the magical protections weaved around the island.
"So, now that you have a place to work on your ship let's discuss the rent." said the Ancient One.
"There is a rent?" he asked incredulously.
"I may be from a mystical order but we have our expenses. So let's talk about that rent."