Chapter 14

Completely oblivious that he was now flagged by the biggest intelligence agency in the world, Jax was working hard in his lab, tinkering on his combat droid, before he closed its chest plate and wore an excited smile. He had finally finished and replicate his robot!

Booting it on, Jax watched as the droid's optical sensors lit up, this one a shade of dark blue, and stood back and looked at it in all of its glory.

The reason that it took so long to replicate the droid was because there was so much advanced science involved with designing it that this world hasn't even seen before, and he had to learn and master them all to truly own this technology. He learned how to program advanced, procedural A.I, giving each droid their own unique and adaptive personality. He learned how to forge a whole new power source needed to power the droids, which could rival Starks own nuclear reactor.

The Hypermatter Reactor, just like the one from Star Wars. The reactor not only gives out near limitless, clean energy, but it's also powerful enough to nearly power a whole planet. Well, at least the Star Wars version is. Jax's, which he calls the Wolfe Reactor, is limited in the sense that Jax doesn't have the same materials that they do on Star Wars, so he had to find suitable substitutes, which in turn brought down the productiveness of it.

Now, instead of powering galactic ships and planets nearly forever, the Wolfe Reactor could power his whole base for about half of a decade. Yes, a big cut in efficiency, but still amazing compared to modern technology. Plus, this is only the first model, as Jax plans to continue improving on it.

Next, Jax and his head scientist, Walter, have already finished the work of replicating all of the weapons and now with the finished power cells from Jax, the weapons system of the base is fully powered and ready to be activated.

Back to the droid, it has finally finished its initial start-up sequence and was imprinting Jax as its new master.

"Hello, Master! I, 001, am now alive. How can I be of further assistance to you?" asked the droid, 001.

The reason this droid seemed so polite, was because Jax had programmed him to be different. Jax required a good assistant for when he was here and also, he needed to test the commercial market capabilities of this droid. To help keep money coming in, Jax planned to patent all of his designs and sell the weakened versions in military contracts. Just in case the military tries to screw him in the future, he still had a few cards to play

"Nothing, for now, 001. Well, could you try cleaning up around here? It's getting kind of drab. Also, address me as My Lord or Lord Wolfe without my mask and as Lord Darkclaw with my mask on." Jax said as he turned his nose up to look at his dirty office. He has already installed several modules like cooking, cleaning, design, construction, and of course combat inside of 001. Jax wanted him to be his all-rounder droid to help him with different needs.

"As you wish, my lord." 001 said with a slight bow before he went to complete his duties.

With that done, Jax turned to his head scientist. "Walt, is the factory to produce more droids completely?" Jax asked. They had already built the initial factory to help produce the first batch of droids.

"Yes, my lord. All we need to do is input the latest data and we'll be ready to mass-produce enough droids to outfit the whole base," said Walt as he looked at the data on his tablet and pushed up the glasses in his face.

"Perfect, produce half of the droids to be Combat droids, a quarter to be Helper droids, and the final quarter to be Builder droids. Have the Builder droids get to work on building more production lines as well as upgrading the base. Have the Helper droids start cleaning up and organizing around the base. I want this place spotless. And finally, have the Combat droids set up the weapons system and spread out around the base. I don't even want a bug to get in here without authorization." Jax command as he rubbed his tired eyes,

Jax looked over to see MJ sleeping on his luxurious couch, and figure it was probably best for them to sleep in his suite there for the night. He had already texted his mom that they might just stay there for the night, and she eventually approved.

Gently carrying MJ like the princess she is, Jax teleported them to his bed on the top floor and softly placed her on the bed. After carefully undressing her top layer of clothes and placing her under the sheets, Jax was about to do the same, until he felt a stirring from the Holocron on his desk.

Teleporting over, Jax quickly fell to his knee when he saw Deathstroke appear.

"You have done good, my apprentice. Now that you have a sufficient base and manpower, I can begin imparting my knowledge to you. I see that you're in no state to learn any of my lessons tonight, but tomorrow, you will stay here, and we will train." Deathstroke announced before he went back into the Holocron.

Jax wanted to curse because he had already missed so much school, but since he could graduate at any time, he wasn't too worried. After sliding into the bed and cuddling up with MJ, Jax quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, Jax kissed the saddened MJ goodbye as she sat in the car and Giles drove her to school. This was the first time that Jax and MJ have been apart since she moved in with them, and this time alone will do them good. Jax has a lot of plans and wouldn't always be there by MJ in the future.

But, Jax told MJ that if something happened, all she had to do was hide in a dark place and call him or press the panic button he made, and he'd save her.

Walking back into the base that he recently decided to call, Umbra Tower, Jax wore a broad smile, as things were finally coming together.

Now that Jax was ready to patent his designs and come out to the world as a genius, he did not need to hide behind a fake name. He even talked to his mother that morning and decided that he was going to graduate early since there was no real need for him to be there.

And since he was studying with MJ, she'd be graduating early eventually as well, but it would take a little longer for her.

Since the droids don't need sleep, they've been working over, and that base was now full of droids. From the Builders outfitting the base to run on the Wolfe Reactor, to the Combat droids either patrolling the walls or installing new turrets and artillery cannons. Soon, Jax suspected that even the likes of SHIELD would have trouble assaulting his keep.

Jax had a very busy schedule that day, as he had to meet with a team of lawyers, have the business name changed from Shade Realty Group to simply, Umbra. He had to get all of his concepts patented and then contact the military to talk contracts. And before all of that, he had to somehow squeeze training in with Deathstroke as well.

Wanting to quickly get his training done, Jax walked past the construction of the first floor, making it suitable for hosting people, and went straight up to his suite. Walking up to the Holocron on his desk, Jax quickly kneeled as Deathstroke appeared.

"Good, you know how to follow orders. But I'm not here to train you to become some lackey who can only listen to others. No, I want to pass on my knowledge so that you can not only match my talent but surpass it. First, enter your stance and we'll get straight to sparring. I can tell that you are much more of a... physical learner." Deathstroke said as he assumed his fighting position.

Jax reluctantly entered his stance but was confused about how Deathstroke was going to efficiently spar with him as a projection from a Holocron, but that all changed when he felt Deathstroke strike his face and fall backward. He was nearly knocked out from that hit, but it went so fast, Jax couldn't even tell whether Slade had hit him with a fist or a foot.

"You are on the ground now because you let your guard down under a preconceived notion. This time, your carelessness only ended with you on the ground, but against a real opponent, a mistake like that can cost you your life. Now, stand. Unless you plan on fighting me all day on your back." Slade said, and Jax could swear he felt Slade smirking behind his mask.

Jax was bewildered and wasn't sure how Slade was able to physically touch him, but the fact is he can. Not wanting to get beat on the ground, Jax quickly stood up, only to be knocked back down.

"Neither life nor your enemy is going to just wait for you to stand back up and prepare yourself. You must fight to stand back up. Fight for every step you take. And fight for every little thing you want. Do you think the likes of Batman would dare to give you a chance? No, he will beat you back down every chance he gets. So, you must always stay two steps ahead of your enemy if you want a chance at winning." said Slade as he effortlessly blocked a strike from Jax after he teleported behind him.

This went on for what felt like hours, Jax even ending up with gouges in his body or the occasional missing limb just from Slade using his bare hands and barely any effort, which was more than enough to humble Jax. There were amazingly strong people in this world, and just because he has a few abilities, he was still weak in the grand scheme of things. As just like him, others were getting stronger and stronger by the day.

The silver lining was, he Slade proved to be an amazing teacher as just with this one session, Jax was making a small amount of progress.

The training only ended when 001 walked in to inform Jax that the lawyers he set an appointment with were there.

"Go, do what you need to do to help your empire grow, as this too will also become part of your lessons," Slade said before he disappeared and went back into the Holocron.

Jax on the other hand was a complete bloody mess, so after he hopped in the shower and got dressed, Jax rushed down to lay the foundations of his future empire.

The meeting was dreadfully boring, but after using Telepathy on the lawyers to make them loyal to him and handle all of the paperwork, things went smoothly and Jax was officially the owner of the new company, Umbra, as well as a bunch of new patents and an army of lawyers.

"I look forward to seeing the prosperity of Umbra, Mr. Wolfe. Our doors are open any time you need us!" said the lead lawyer, trying to sweet-talk Jax before they entered their car and was escorted out of the base by a squad of Combat droids.

As the gate to the fortress opened, Jax saw a man standing on the outside of it that made his skin crawl. 'Is that Nick motherfucking Fury?! Why the hell is he here?!' Jax thought in a panic, especially as Fury walked in and all of the Combat Droids aimed their guys at him.

"Stand down you fucking idiots! Stand down, now!" Jax commanded, absolutely not wanting to piss off the world by killing the Director of SHIELD.

Hearing his command, the droids quickly stand down and continue their patrol.

"A pretty impressive piece of tech you got here. Where did you get it?" Fury asked as he eyed Jax suspiciously. This was the first time any government agency had been inside of this fort, and the first thing that Fury sees is an army of droids so advanced that they knock anything the military has out of the water.

"Thanks, I made them. Just got finished signing the patents before you walked into my headquarters uninvited. I didn't think government agents wasted their time bothering simple businessmen these days." Jax said, crossing his arms over his chest. Just because he didn't want to kill Fury didn't mean he was going to bow down and be his bitch.

"Cute, but I think we both know that no simple businessman would be a 16-year-old millionaire with a fortified military base that could rival the government. Do you mind inviting me inside so we can talk? This damn weather is getting colder and colder." Fury said as he pulled his leather jacket closer to his body.

"Sure, come on up to my office. I might have a hat that can cover your head." Jax joked as he turned around and walked inside of the headquarters.

"Fuck you, motherfucker. Bald heads are stylish. You're just too young to understand." Fury laughed as he followed Jax inside.

Walking into the base, Fury was seriously impressed as he saw droids everywhere either cleaning or renovating nonstop, and each droid carried high-tech weaponry which Fury had never seen before, and couldn't believe Jax made all of this.

Walking into the office, Jax walked behind his large, black marbled desk and sat on his plush chair while Fury sat on the other side.

"Okay, congrats on being the first person besides my family and my lawyers to enter Umbra Tower, but, I'm sure a guy like you didn't just come here to sightsee. What can I do for you?" Jax asked politely as he leaned back in his seat. He thought on Slade's words and was already making contingency plans for every scenario.

"A to the point kind of guy, I like it. The truth is kid, you too many big moves too soon and got flagged as suspicious. I mean, this place practically popped up overnight, but after seeing your robots, I can see why. Tell me, kid, how does your below-average kid from Georgia, wind up in New York, as a genius millionaire with his own fort? Make it make sense." Fury asked, startled by 001 walking up to him, but relaxing when he saw that he was handing him a bourbon on ice.

"Well, you may not believe me when I tell you this, or think that it's some cheesy line, but I owe everything that I have, everything that I am, to God. Because without him, now of this would be possible." Jax said sagely as he spread his arms wide. Jax knew that Fury was like a human lie detector, so he decided to tell the truth.

Hearing this, Fury wore a slight frown as he could detect no lies in Jax's words. "I didn't peg you for the religious type. You mind if I smoke here?" Fury asked, pulling out a cigar.

"Be my guest. Luckily the missus isn't here, as she hates the smell of smoke. Then we'd both be getting our heads torn off" Jax laughed as he drank a cup of water.

"Tell me, Mr...." Jax asked, fishing for Fury's name, as he has yet to give it.

"Oh, damn, that's my bad. Between the robots and the jokes about my head, I forgot to introduce myself. The name is Fury, Nick Fury. I'm the Director of an intelligence agency called, SHIELD. You said you just signed the patent for these things, right?" Fury asked as he pointed a thumb at 001.

"That's right. I was actually on my way to form a few military contracts before you graced me with a visit." Jax said as he took a sip from his water.

Jax never said which military he was going to form contracts with, and he knew that Fury would pick up on that. Now, the ball is in Jax's court as Fury knows that no matter who gets a hold of this technology, the delicate balance of the world would be broken, and war would ensue.

"A businessman through and through, huh? Then let's cut to the chase. You know what will happen if this technology ends up in either nation's hands, or worse, a terrorist organization. So, how about forming a contract with SHIELD? We're technically not tied to any of the nations, yet still all of them at the same time. Either way, if the tech is with us, there will be no war and we pay well. Can't get more simple than that, right?" Fury asked, using his most diplomatic voice.

Fury couldn't believe that his simple courtesy call turned into him preventing World War 3 by forming military contracts with a 16-year-old.

As Jax thought about it, this was exactly what he wanted and it saved him from doing the work of talking with a bunch of stiffs in suits. Plus, from what he remembered, SHIELD was practically made of money and could theoretically pay any amount he set with no issues, especially since he had options.

With a subdued smile, Jax held out his hand. "Well, Fury, it looks like you have a deal. Umbra would love doing business with SHIELD. But I do have just one request." Jax asked as Fury shook his hand, returning the smile.

"If it's within my power. What do you need?" Fury asked, suddenly feeling like Jax is about to cause him a huge headache.

"Nothing too big, just the right to buy all of the air and land rights around Umbra Tower. Oh, do you know where I can buy one of those used satellites that no one uses anymore?" Jax asked offhandedly. Jax wanted to start owning different territories, preferably out of the country just in case something tragic happened and he had to leave New York.

Hearing this, Fury just let out a heavy sigh and buried his face in his hand. Jax just asked for the rights to buy and privatize a chunk of territory, as well as his own satellite. With Jax's resources and all of these capabilities, it wouldn't be a stretch for Jax to eventually become a world power.

'Yep, I told Maria dealing with this motherfucker would be trouble.'