13 Chapter 13: Aegis

"So how is he adjusting?" asked Coulson as he entered the NASA research facility in West Virginia.

"Not so well, sir. Vex is restless and prefers to be out of the base as soon as he can." said Maria Hill who tagged along with him.

Coulson was not so keen on having Agent Hill as the point of contact between Vex and SHIELD. He had nothing against the agent. He just worried that having an inexperienced agent in the field in this high profile mission would turn into a disaster. Hill's appointment was Fury's call and so far the Director's choice was not wrong.

Sure, there were better agents that SHIELD could use but he was seeing what Director Fury saw in Agent Hill. She is meticulous in her work and she does everything by the books. SHIELD agents were assessed after every mission and Hill's efficiency was off the charts. She has a knack for quick decision making and she always plays by the rules. It was very rare to see such talent and discipline in one so young.

"No wonder he finished the project two weeks ahead of schedule." He commented amusedly.

"Don't remind me, sir. The guy was incorrigible for the last few weeks. He had the entire group working around the clock to push the project ahead of schedule." Agent Hill complained as she let out a frustrated groan.

"Thought you would be enjoying the opportunity, Agent Hill." Coulson commented knowing that the young agent is a well-accomplished techie and a closet genius.

He would have assumed Agent Hill enjoyed working with Vex seeing as their resident alien was working in an area of science that SHIELD is very interested in.

"A slave-driver he may be but I won't deny his genius." said Agent Hill

While SHIELD scientists were ahead in many fields of science than their civilian counterparts, gravitational manipulation was still leagues ahead of their capabilities. In fact, their lack of knowledge on gravitational forces is the reason many of their projects intended to explore Quantum science were stymied for so long.

This project with fitting the Quinjet with gravity thrusters was in part a test. Sure, the gravity thrusters would be a good replacement for turbine fans on the wings. The true purpose of the project was to use the gravitational technology for other projects, namely Project PEGASUS.

Very few people know that SHIELD has been working on the Tesseract since the 80s. The Kree incident in the 90s only further strengthened the World Security Council's decision to study the cube and extract its power. There were several impediments to that work as SHIELD has so far been technologically deficient in using the cube to its full potential.

Sure, it is possible to create weapons using the Tesseract's energy but it was difficult to truly understand the cube's workings. This lack of understanding has led SHIELD struggling with contingencies in case of a malfunction from the Tesseract. The popular theory was that the Tesseract extracts energy from space. The 'how' and 'why' remained a mystery to this day.

Thus, the best contingency for a possible uncontrolled Dark Energy flare is to bury the cube deep underground. This is obviously a bad idea but at the moment SHIELD is in the dark with regards to the Tesseract. They have no idea about how the Tesseract worked and how it is pulling energy from space.

Even that conclusion was just a theory, but a good theory, seeing as there is no other explanation for the energy density exhibited by the Tesseract. Even after these years the cube never showed an energy deficiency. Whatever energy was taken from the cube gets immediately replenished. The risk of such an object going haywire was just too much and the present contingency for such a scenario is shoddy at best. This is why understanding the Tesseract is a paramount objective for SHIELD.

The fact that the Tesseract enhanced Carol Danvers was also a cause for concern. The Tesseract just defied all definitions put to it by the best minds on Earth. Seeing as the Tesseract is an alien artefact he was not that surprised. It just means that understanding how it functioned became all the more imperative.

The only useful lead was in the research of Howard Stark and Hank Pym. With Howard Stark dead and Hank Pym cutting off all contacts with SHIELD, Project PEGASUS had seen no great development in the last few decades. They were still studying the Tesseract but it yielded little results. At the moment SHIELD is capable of harnessing the cube's energy to make weapons. While this has not been the priority for SHIELD the arrival of Vex certainly pushed the World Security Council to take some drastic measures.

"Finally! I have been waiting for you Agent Coulson." said Vex enthusiastically and Coulson shook hands with their resident alien inside an aircraft hangar. He could see the Quinjet behind Vex along with other members of the project team.

"Heard you were being insistent on wrapping up the project. Why? Didn't like our hospitality?" he asked with a slight smile.

"Thought I could handle being cooped up in this facility. It seems I can't stand in being at one place for too long." said Vex as he led the two of them towards the Quinjet.

Coulson of course knew the real reason behind Vex's rush. SHIELD has been monitoring Vex's dealings through Vex Corp. In the last few months, the new company has been expanding its recruitment drive not to mention investments. The company was barely on its feet and already the first product was in the market.

To be fair the first product was just an anti-virus software but from the intel SHIELD agents dug up, the anti-virus software Aegis was catching quite the attention. So far two local banks and several car dealers have adopted the software. SHIELD intel also suggests talks are progressing with telecom giant Telefonica for a deal. If such a deal goes through then Vex Corp would certainly earn a place on the map. With viruses like Inta, LoveLetter and Timofonica in the play, he gathered the market for anti-virus software is only going to expand.

"Or maybe you just want to pack your bags and go to California. I hear the demand for digital products are soaring as we speak." He commented idly.

"That too." Vex agreed with a nod hardly denying the meaning behind Coulson's comment. "But I am sure you are just as eager to get this project over with."

Coulson merely nodded as what Vex said was true. The modifications made to the Quinjet would exponentially increase its stealth capabilities. With the turbofans removed in favour of anti-grav thrusters, there would be less acoustic disturbance plus minimal air displacement. Such a design, if mass-produced, would boost SHIELD's capabilities in stealth missions. So, the SHIELD technicians and higher-ups were eager to see the project succeed and completed as soon as possible.

Coulson followed Vex and Agent Hill right below the wings of the Quinjet. He took in the small sphere-like objects embedded in the wings with open fascination.

"The metal spheres you see are made from a unique element not found in your Periodic Table. I call it Gravitron and this is the element that will be functioning as the thruster for the Quinjet." Vex explained.

"So how does it work?" he asked and quickly added. "Just explain to me as if you are speaking to a twelve-year-old."

"Alright." Vex took a deep breath. "Gravity exists by virtue of space-time geometry. Say, space is in the x-axis and time is in the y axis in 2-D coordinates then you can find gravity in the z-axis as an extension. Now, gravity is in the 3-D plane and we can't produce it because we are looking at the whole drawing on a 2-D scale."

Vex moved forward and picked up a small black suitcase. He opened the case and inside there was a glass canister with two electromagnets on both ends. Inside the canister, there was a silvery metallic sphere suspended in mid-air.

"This is Gravitron. What it does is manipulate space and time such that it attains negative mass. This generates repulsive forces between the Gravitron and the surroundings. Of course, there are some pieces of equipment inside the wings that control this phenomenon and by manipulating this 'fifth force' you acquire propulsion."

"So, these Gravitrons trick surrounding to repel itself because it behaves like the north pole while the rest of existence behaves like the south pole?" asked Coulson

"A watered-down explanation but essentially yes," said Vex with an uncomfortable look.

Coulson knew that look. He has seen that look many times on SHIELD scientists when they were trying to explain certain things to their fellow intellectually inferior agents.

"So, tell me more about the structural modifications you made." He asked and listened carefully as Vex began his explanation with Agent Hill chipping in from time to time.

A few minutes later the Quinjet took to the air and he assessed the performance. It was safe to say that a marvel was born out of this project but he would wait for the opinion of an expert panel in aviation. But as far as he could see the project is a success and SHIELD now has advanced technology in their hands.

"So are we done here? Can I take my leave?" asked Vex after the Quinjet landed and was secured inside the hangar for further tests.

"You are free to leave but do remember you have several contractual obligations." said Coulson

"Oh, I know Agent Coulson. Just let me know when you gather the expert panel for avionics evaluation and flight performance tests." said Vex

He just nodded and watched Vex took his leave no doubt to his apartment. SHIELD intel suggests that Vex is romantically involved with Jane Foster. If Vex thought that his weekend breaks would not be monitored by SHIELD then the guy would be sorely disappointed. He didn't know how a relationship between an alien and a human would pan out but he was nonetheless curious.

******

The unfortunate reality of a business is that if you take the eye off the ball for too long the ball could be anywhere in the world. With globalization kicking in full speed, every business contributes in some ways to the global economy, not just the national economy.

Cerion knew this little detail well especially when he decided to tap into the software market. The software market is relatively new, one that is constantly evolving at a pace unseen in any other business sector. The same is true for the hardware industry but more so on software because it is hard to find quality software in the market.

This is why Vex Corp was soaring from the moment the company became a legal player in the market. He had already cultivated credibility to his name in the cyberspace when he launched an open-sourced anti-virus software. The next step was creating a product based on the needs of the market and a powerful marketing group.

Fortunately, creating a new product was an easy task. The hard part was the software had to work on the hardware junk in the year 2000. The next part was hiring a marketing group. That was solved so long as there was capital to float the company. As luck would have it he had that in spades. But to not raise any red flags he roped in some bank loans to make the investments seem authentic.

Having done all that it was still not enough to gain immediate recognition for his new product, Aegis. The year 2000 was not exactly a digital book. The Internet had yet to truly touch the prefrontal cortex of the human race. It would still take half a decade for that to happen but that doesn't mean the internet was not connecting human minds. It is just that for now, only the geeks were knee-deep in the net. For his purposes that was more than necessary for the time being.

If recruiting new employees was by hosting code writing competitions his advertisement and marketing was by challenging to hack Vex Corp servers. Vex Corp ran a month-long marathon where the company had to show that it could weed out any type of viruses and hacks from around the globe. The one month campaign got the word out that there was indeed a company named Vex Corp in the market. Not only did the company get familiarity with a variety of hacks and viruses, but it also got a lot of viewers interested in how it performed.

This is why when the company was barely out of the birthing pod it got some good deals. Not only did Aegis prove its effectiveness in weeding out viruses it showed a consistency that was lacking in other anti-virus software available in the market.

Now, this is all good news but a business organization cannot function without a chain of command. Seeing as the major investor and inventor is one and the same he could not afford to stay in Virginia. His physical presence was now paramount especially when he has plans to expand the company.

Which is why the dinner he was having was a sombre affair.

"So, you are moving to California." said Jane as she cut into the steak on her plate with a pinched look.

"Yes." There was no point in dancing around the issue or give excuses. He had already given the hints about this move for weeks. It's not as if he was springing the topic all of a sudden.

"So, how will 'us' work?" asked Jane

"It's not as if I am going off-world. You do remember that I can travel at speeds beyond human imagination?" he quicker an eyebrow

"That's true I guess but still…" she shrugged and went back to her plate.

Cerion reached across the table and took Jane's hand in his. "It'll be alright. You'll see."