7 April 2000
"Director Fury, Secretary Pierce will see you now."
Fury let out a sigh of relief at that before entering the office of his direct superior. While he remained the Director of SHIELD there still remained a higher authority than him. Many of the lower tier agents would believe after him it would be the World Security Council but in between, there was one guy, Alexander Pierce.
"Nick! Welcome to DC. What can I do for you?" asked Pierce as they shook hands in greeting.
"What makes you think I am here for something?" asked Fury
"The fact that you found time to travel all the way to DC when you should be in California." said Pierce with a smile. "Take a seat, Nick. You would only be here if the situation would demand it. What can I do?"
"I am here because of Project X." said Fury
He watched as Pierce froze for a moment before relaxing in his chair.
"I take it that gathering the DNA of the subject didn't pan out." said Pierce after he stood up and took a bottle of whisky and two glasses from a nearby closet.
Fury accepted the glass offered by Pierce with a nod and took a sip. "Didn't work out as well as I hoped but we did gather valuable intelligence." he said
"Which was always your primary intention. The DNA samples were a secondary objective for you which I disagree but I do understand where you are coming from." Pierce said with a respectful nod having known the quirks of his subordinate. Fury always did value information. "Do go on Director Fury."
"As you already read from the initial report Mr Vex exhibits extraordinary physical powers similar to Carol Danvers. We can now confirm Mr Vex has either super-hearing or super-vision or both. My bet is on both."
"I am not a betting man and even if I was I would not bet against you, Nick. So, what is the verdict?" said Pierce as he leaned forward curiously nursing his drink.
"With our short term plan to acquire a DNA sample at a dead-end we are switching to Plan B. I have sent in Coulson and it may require some adjustments to the initial deal we made with Mr Vex." said Fury
"That is unfortunate but workable." Pierce mused as they were prepared for just this scenario. It was hoped it would not come to this but he trusted Nick knew what he was doing. "Any possible retaliation on a wide scale from the subject?"
"We did extensive research and psych profiling on Mr Vex. There won't be any violent episodes from Mr Vex. I can assure you that Mr Secretary."
"Good. I will keep the Council in the loop but do keep the situation on the ground wound up tight. I don't have to tell you that any leaks on this Project will be catastrophic to you, me, the council and our country."
"I know sir. We will keep the heat down in any event." said Fury
"Good. Now, walk me through Plan B."
"Plan B calls for long term benefit sir. We start with…"
After he completed the brief he was back on a plane to Sacramento. Pierce would keep the World Security Council appraised and he trusted the man to not let politicians into butting their heads into SHIELD especially considering the latest additions into the WSC. With the dissolution of USSR, the WSC was expanded to include two more representatives from China and India.
The arrival of new member countries into the WSC was frankly baffling to him. He was no politician but even he was frankly baffled by this move. China's membership was a foregone conclusion as they were a shoe-in for superpower status. Not to mention China was going to be a strategic ally in dealing with the remnants of fringe elements in the former USSR territories. The admission of India was something that he was baffled with. He would have thought a second ally from Asia to be Japan or even Pakistan.
His experience told him that somehow the geopolitics was shifting and enemies were becoming fast allies. He ought to keep an eye on DC as well because SHIELD was a circle of accountability. The WSC would keep an eye on him and at the same time, he would keep an eye on them. He would come around to do that just as soon as the situation in Virginia comes to a close.
Cerion was hard at work designing some of the internal relays that were essential to miniaturize the Arc Reactor. While there was no need for miniature Arc Reactor seeing as a big one was quite preferable for his ship there were some significant applications he could see with miniaturized reactors. They could be an excellent backup for his ship especially on shields and other life support systems of the ship.
His venture into the corporate espionage was a huge success part in due to accessing the Arc Reactor technology as well as the hidden element in the Stark Expo model. For his own peace of mind, he had decided to call the new element Unobtanium. The new element was a tricky one to produce in the physical plane but he was closing in on that objective. The only delay he was going to suffer would be because he presently lacked a high density of energy to work the particle accelerator. The device itself was already available to him as it was one of the few things that remained intact within his ship.
Cerion looked to his bedside where one of his drones was working something that was earning him quite a lot of money. When he enjoyed stellar success in hacking the Stark Industries satellite he also decided to do some more digging. There were many shell companies and embezzlement going on that was frankly disturbing. When this came to his notice he decided to be a good Samaritan and decided to steal from those who were committing the fraud.
Frankly, having a multipurpose AI at his command and call helped in stealing from some of the premier organized crime industries. The money that he looted from these red flag accounts passed through a variety of shell companies and even went through government holdings to finally sit securely in several dummy accounts just waiting to be used. The first set of rent for the Ancient One was paid out through one of these accounts. The money was wired to an account in Hong Kong and thus he rented an entire island for a year at an attractive price of half a million dollars. To his mind, that was a killer deal.
He did feel guilty for using what was most assuredly blood money or drug money. To alleviate this guilt he decided to spent a million dollars to charity. Splitting a million dollars into ten equal parts he wired the money to ten orphanages that were in dire need of funding through multiple accounts. He was sure he could do far more to help but he knew that time for laying low was up. A lot of people were going to be angry when they find their money disappear and he had no intention of rocking the boat this early in the game. He was also sure that SHIELD and other intelligence agencies might also be looking for the trail but they will be jumping into the cyber black hole that he left in his wake.
It was mighty easy to bug the entire net and by the time agencies like SHIELD and CIA catch up they will get a nasty cyber cold so to speak. The systems of this era were so easily prone to malware and he was going to exploit that to kingdom come. To help set up cybersecurity he was even planning on releasing an open-source anti-virus software soon enough. Frankly, a lack of competition in the cyber field was disturbing him for some reason.
A knock on the door of his apartment distracted him from his work. A short scan with his eyes revealed that he had two visitors Maria Hill and Phil Coulson. He had expected one of them to make contact with him but never expected the duo to visit him together. It would seem Fury was intent on damage control which could only mean he has another plan running one which was more subtle than the previous one.
Shutting down all the drones and keeping Optima on stand by he opened the door.
"Agent Coulson and Maria." He nodded acknowledging them both.
"Mr Vex." greeted Coulson with a simple nod.
"Cerion. Can we come in?" asked Maria
"Sure. Please do come in." he led them to the drawing-room.
As Coulson and Maria took their seats on a couch he eyed them expectantly.
"Tea or coffee?" he asked
"Tea." said Maria. Coulson who also chose the same.
A few minutes later he was sitting opposite to the two agents who were enjoying two cups of tea.
"First of all please accept our sincerest apologies Mr Vex."
"Accepted agent Coulson although I do warn you apologies will have no bearing whatsoever in this discussion." He flatly said letting them know that he was serious in his position.
"You have to understand our perspective Mr Vex. We have only come out of a near nuclear catastrophe as you already know by now. We can't help but be suspicious of people of foreign origin." said Coulson
"I understand which is why I have not batted an eye when I realized I was being watched by two of your agents from across the building. The only condition that I put forth when I agreed to share my knowledge with your agency was breached and that will change our deal." he said firmly not budging from his decision.
"Very well then. What are your demands?" asked Coulson
"I agreed to work for SHIELD as per the norms of the first deal. That will no longer be possible and I will only work as a private contractor or a consultant if you will." said Cerion
"I don't see a problem with that." Said Coulson and Maria Hill nodded along.
"Good and that means I decide which technologies will be shared with SHIELD."
"Now that's not the deal that we made." Maria objected.
"I agree which is why we are making the new deal." said Cerion before handing over a small card to Maria.
"What's this?" she asked as she flipped over the card. "Vex Corporation?"
"A new Cyber Security firm that I am starting. One thing I noticed is that you have laughable Cyber Security and I believe there is a huge market just waiting for my expertise."
"You are going public? Are you insane?" asked Maria incredulously.
"Hiding in plain sight is my motto and insanity seems to be running high in your agency Maria. You broke the deal we made in good faith and now the new deal will be on my terms. Tell Fury that I don't like liars and cheats." said Cerion before standing up having enough of the conversation.
"If you go public we won't be able to provide you with the necessary cover that you will need." warned Coulson as he too stood up along with Maria.
"You need me more than I need you, agent Coulson. The first time that I even indulged your silly and frankly astronomical demands was because I hoped to build trust and a working relationship with mankind. Instead of working together in harmony, your masters got greedy. We could have been friends but we will now be business partners." said Cerion before plucking a file from a nearby table and handed it over to Coulson.
"What's this?" asked Coulson
"A copy of a contract that I propose between Vex Corp and SHIELD for the exchange of Anti-Grav technology. I will be waiting for your response most eagerly." said Cerion as he held out the door for the two agents.
"We will be in touch." said Coulson before stepping out followed by Maria Hill.
"Before you go please pass this message to your Director. Tell him that mankind has to learn to crawl before it prepares to run the marathon. Good day."
Closing the door behind him he returned to his work. Vex Corp was something he was working on for a few weeks. He had great designs on how it was going to progress. The primary reason for he was starting the company was that he needed a front for purchasing some higher grade steel and other necessary resources to speed up the work on his ship. To that effect, he planned to expand from cybersecurity to other fields once the company break even.
Who knows this may change in the future but first he had to complete the work on designing a modified Arc Reactor reactor that would be suitable for his needs.
AN:
The reasons for Ancient One objecting Cerion recreating the Kryptonian race has multiple layers. As she said she is the protector of the human race and adding another being that she describes as something similar to Dormammu is a threat to her job. Keep in mind that Cerion is still a baby in MCU. He just has started to acquire these new powers and of course, the Ancient One is subtlety guiding him in a direction that is advantageous to her.
As many of the reviewers said there is no problem in bringing more Kryptonians into the fray. The Ancient One has her own agenda in advising Cerion away from cloning his own race. Perhaps she sees some great catastrophe in that choice.
Now, those who were suggesting that Cerion was being too passive just keep in mind that he is still adjusting to the change in venue. His plans were based on he was going to live in DC Earth. Now, he finds himself in MCU which sort of messed up his entire plan. He has very vague memories of the MCU plot and he is just looking for stability to plan and build up resources. What he needs is a stable base to set himself up. That's why he is playing ball and waiting for opportunities to present itself organically. Rushing in head first is not how Cerion does things. That's not his character.
Just making this clear for everyone. At the moment Cerion is not as powerful as a Celestial. He has the potential to reach that level but he is still undergoing training under the Ancient One. He will have to master his energy and then develop his own powers. It is going to take a while. He has not even properly trained to use his Kryptonian powers.
Thank you for all your reviews. Your reviews improve my ideas and writing. So keep them coming.