14 Chapter 14: Churchill's Vibranium

Cerion had never worked this hard in his Kryptonian life. Human life is rife with hardships and hurdles at every corner and he felt like the world was out to get him. In Krypton, this was not an issue. The chief concern has always been to keep his head down and work out an escape plan while performing his duties. While that was indeed a form of hardship he would take that any time of the day over the colossal workload he was being saddled with right now.

When he decided to start a company, he had in parts, was influenced by his innate attachment to humanity deep inside his soul. Perhaps, it was the result of a deep psychological need to tether himself to humanity. Looking back on his decision, he theorized he may have made the largest mistake in his life.

Without advanced technology or communications for the matter, almost every process had to be personally supervised. As he is the head of Vex Corp, a fledgling company in a competitive market, he had to pour his entire being on every little detail. The recruitments were one thing but marketing, production, organizational structure, management, payment of salaries, tax payments, PR, advertisements and a hundred other problems all got dumped into his lap.

Oh, how he missed the use of a productive AI. The only silver lining in this chaos was that he need not worry about products or their maintenance. The Aegis, for example, had two versions. One for civilian use and another for industrial use. The civilian version would get updated yearly but the industrial version required specification. The network providers faced different cyber threats than say banking industry or manufacturing industry. Not only that, each of these industries has to be approached in different ways to attract prospective customers.

This sort of diversification required his constant involvement plus he had to develop personal contacts. Hence, he was required to always be accessible on a phone or even a face to face meeting on quick notice. This is why the year 2000 was a busy one and he held no notion that the next few years will be any different.

A better part of his life was now being wasted on galas, parties and business meetings. This was not the major factor that made him curse the situation. The reason is that he could have avoided all this if he had been a bit more prepared.

In the months that followed his stringent involvement in the development of Vex Corp, several Scouters were ready to be deployed. Kryptonian Scouters were small ships capable of intergalactic communications and were primarily used for scouting out Exospace lanes for safe travel. They housed a wide variety of deep space scanners and telescopes that could chart pathways in space and even find out the atmospheric composition of planets and stars.

Optima managed to repair two Scouters with the limited resources that were available in his island base. He charged Optima to use one of the Scouters on deep-space scanning while another to scan Earth. The Deep Space Scanner Scouter is on a mission to find habitable planets closer to Earth. While the other one was charged with finding Vibranium deposited on Earth and the nearby asteroid belt of the Solar System.

His reasoning was, if Wakanda was hit with a meteorite of Vibranium then it was possible some splinter groups may have struck the ocean or is even hanging around in space. He knew searching for Vibranium deposits in the ocean is a wasted effort as a million years might have passed since the event but he went with it anyway.

But now, looking at the preliminary report he received from Optima about a deep scan of the North Atlantic Ocean, specifically the shores close to San Juan, Puerto Rico, he cursed himself for not thinking about this particular place. He had forgotten all about the Kree City lying underneath the ocean. In his defence, his brain is filled with more useful information than the plot points of a TV show he saw in passing in his past life.

This latest find not only took him by surprise but also presented a solution to many of his problems. Accessing the Kree City would most likely solve his lack of Star Charts. It would also most likely grant him access to information about alien civilizations in the universe. The data alone in the city will be a treasure. Then there is the technology and possibly advanced docking bays in the city.

If the Kree had taken the trouble to build a city on Earth then they most likely built it as a military base. If that is true, then the city most likely houses an advanced dockyard that would be immensely useful in repairing his ship. It was also possible the city may also house a Kree ship. If this is true then all the better.

Based on what he would find in the Kree City he could take his leave from Earth. It was now possible that he could take his leave and say goodbye to all of humanity. There will be no need for him to worry about SHIELD or HYDRA possibly self-destructing the planet in a mad bid to control and rule.

Earth is going to be ground zero for the arrival of all the extraterrestrial genocidal maniacs. There is Loki, Thanos, the Dark Elves, Deviants, the Celestials and he doesn't know what else. They are all going to target Earth for one reason or another. He would have actually stepped in and lent a hand if it wasn't for the shitty people MCU earth is filled with. Comparatively, the DCU people were realists, appreciative and far more humble in his opinion.

'My stay here will only contribute to the problem.' he thought with a sigh.

He was acutely aware of SHIELD, HYDRA and the US military developing weapons to 'contain' him. The research on gamma radiations to grow super soldiers conducted in Culver was one thing. The other being the Dark Energy project that SHIELD reactivated because of his arrival.

As if the Tesseract being used to create weapons of mass destruction was not enough, HYDRA seems to be working on a multitude of projects. Chief among them is the Particle Infusion Chamber of Daniel Whitehall. Just as HYDRA and SHIELD are keeping an eye on him, he was keeping an eye on them. He had developed backdoors into Earth's satellites thereby keeping an eye on his potential enemies.

'But now, I have an opportunity to put a stop to this cat and mouse play.' he thought

While this was a good thing he would be essentially cutting off his stay on Earth. This means he will have to leave his new company. The initial plan was for supplying humanity with enough technology to defend themselves from extraterrestrial conquerors. While it was most likely a double-edged sword, he held hope humanity would use his gift of knowledge primarily against their alien foes. Failing that, he could always step in and lend a hand.

This was the plan but now he was not so sure. He was not exactly sure whether this was a good idea. In fact, he didn't know whether it is a good idea to leave Earth and create a new Krypton. For once in his long life, he was at a loss on how to move forward.

Cerion let out a sigh and took in the scan results on his datapad. He typed in the order for Optima to take control of the city. The Scouter should be more than capable to help in this endeavour.

All things considered, the Scouter had made his job very easy. Other than access to the Kree City, the Scouter also found a source of Vibranium. Sadly, it was not at the bottom of the ocean where he could mine it without no one the wiser. Rather, he was looking at the Venezuelan coastal area of Mare. More specifically, a ship named Churchill docked in a secluded private port.

He has been tracking Ulysses Klaue for a long time. Unfortunately, the man was hard to find as he is involved in almost all armed conflicts in the world. But now, Klaue has resurfaced in the western hemisphere far away from his stronghold in South Africa.

Cerion tracked Klaue using SHIELD intel. The fact that SHIELD refused to move against Klaue suggested that the man is in cahoots with the organization. Being an arms dealer and an assassin for hire, Klaue and his group of friends must be useful for SHIELD in some way. Looking into the SHIELD files on Klaue, it was fairly obvious that Klaue is a valued third party dealer for the US intelligence agencies, not just SHIELD. The CIA is also an invested party in the well-being of Klaue, at least, for now.

'I have already set off butterflies with my sheer presence. Taking Vibranium from Klaue seems to be a good idea.'

He folded the datapad and secured it in his pocket before he exited his office. The moment he was out of the door, he was greeted by Deborah Feinberg the manager of the IT division. She is also the Project manager of YouStream the MCU equivalent of YouTube. The project was set to launch on the eve of the new year and the date was catching up.

"Are you going somewhere?" asked Deborah

He could hear the subtle disapproval radiating from her tone. The woman was a good find in his opinion despite her mild control streak. He recruited her from Telefonica. Frankly, he thought the woman was being wasted on that company as a technical advisor.

Cerion came in contact with Deborah when he closed the deal with Telefonica on revamping the network security of the MoviStar network. From his brief interaction with Deborah, he knew the woman had the potential to go far and he was proven right when she became a lynchpin in setting up the YouStream Project. She was also instrumental in poaching offshore talent into Vex Corp. If all goes well, he hoped to snag MoviStar by next year and hog a major part of the Networking market before Christmas of 2002.

"I need to run an errand. I'll be back before you know it."

"The last time you said that you were gone for a whole day and I was left in the dark. We nearly lost a deal with AMD because of that stunt." said Deborah with accusing eyes.

"And you performed absolutely well in negotiating that deal. You have a hefty dividend coming along this month." he patted her shoulder on a job well done.

"I hope so cause I deserve it."

"You do Miss Feinberg." He nodded with an appreciative smile before turning his attention to the files in her hand. "Now, is this important enough that I have to take a look at right now or can I postpone it for tomorrow?"

"These are files on the Compression Code for 280p video streaming that Mike Ryan's team came up with. I found some discrepancies in the code and I want a second opinion."

"Not exactly a job for the CEO and the major shareholder of the company now is it?" he asked amusedly

"No." Deborah admitted. "But I know you are adamant to see this Compression algorithm function as smoothly as possible. I did warn you not to set a high bar of expectations, but you wouldn't listen."

"As I have said, Deborah, advancement will not happen if we don't push the boundaries of what is deemed possible today." he said before he speedread the files. "I will have to insert some modifications to the code. We meet tomorrow at eleven for a discussion and I want you there. Bring Ryan and his team as well."

"Done. Should I know what you are up to?" asked Deborah

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies."

A few hours later, he found arrived at his house in Mountain View. It was a bit far away from all the rush of the city, perfect for some alone time to think and slack off. Locking the house from the inside he went down to the basement protected under a quantum shield. The shield is capable of throwing off any scanners employed by SHIELD. Besides, his basement now housed a portable Phantom drive and a few Arc Reactors, so shielding became a priority.

Living in a city heightened his need for secrecy. The usual flying became a concern and he required an instant travelling medium to access his ship. It was this need that led him to create a modified Phantom Drive which he named the Space Bridge. The space bridge is just a doorway created by bending space that would let him access the bridge of his ship on the island. A similar device was being kept on his ship and the two devices worked in tandem to form the Space Bridge.

Near-instant teleportation is the result of this project, one that is untraceable by the present human technology. The Quantum shield masks the energy signature from Arc Reactors he is employing in the basement. So all in all, it will be difficult for SHIELD to keep track of his movements especially when he can trick their thermal scanners.

"Activate the Space Bridge. Command Rao300 in effect."

"Command key accepted. Scanning…."

A drone detached itself from the Space Bridge and scanned his body as well as his retina.

"Welcome abroad Serenity, Commander Vex."

"Thank you." he nodded satisfied with the security protocols and stepped into the electric blue vortex created by the Space Bridge. A rush of cold passed over him and in the next second, he was inside his ship.

A drone greeted him inside the chamber and did a second scan to confirm his identity. Then the Bridge shut down behind him as per protocol.

Cerion made a beeline for the command bridge.

"Welcome back to Serenity, Commander Vex." Optima greeted him on the bridge.

He had changed the whole command structure of the ship as part of his modifications to the ship. In the absence of any other Kryptonian, he decided to give himself the designation of Commander. The ship was being rapidly modified from a science vessel to a military warship to prepare for his journey to the stars.

"Show me Klaue's ship." Cerion ordered and immediately the ship's structure was projected before his eyes.

"Isolate the vault."

The vault in question is the room where Klaue kept his Vibranium stash. Cerion had no access to Vibranium and hence he could not exactly scan for the metal on Earth. He circulated the problem by scanning Wakanda with his advanced scanners. While Wakanda was indeed far more advanced than any other nation in the world they relied solely on their Vibranium based technology to be the shield that protected their country.

In the end, it was easy to circumvent their defences and get a scan of the magic metal from space. He suspected the other alien races never found Wakanda because they were not actively looking for them like he did. If he had no idea of Wakanda's existence, then he would have skipped over the pile of forest, mountains, rivers and farmlands projected by Wakanda without a second glance. Since he knew there is something interesting to look for, he turned on his most advanced scanners on Wakanda to trace Vibranium. It was then that his scanners picked up a faint hum in a Q-DEPS (Quantum Decelrating Dark Energy Pulse Scanner).

It was this same energy signature that aided in tracking Klaue's Vibranium stash to the ship Churchill. At first, he found it strange that Klaue would drag around Vibranium in his ship through international borders. After accessing the CIA and SHIELD database he was not so surprised by Klaue's confidence. The guy was good pals with both and knew when to work for the big dog. Essentially, the man became an asset for several interested parties in the US. With the US being the prime weapon's manufacturer and supplier in the world, Klaue had no shortage of friends and allies in the US.

'But all those connections are not going to save Klaue from being robbed blind by me.' Cerion thought as a plan came to his mind.

"Bring the Scouter around. We have a mission to finish." he ordered and Optima went to work.

******

Klaue looked up from the hand he held to observe the other players. Half a million was on the pot and he was just about to take that mil from the table.

It was now almost a ritual to play with his men after a good arms sale went through. Right now, he was six million USD richer selling arms and ammunition to the Venezuelan government. A few days from now, he will be sending another consignment of weapons to Venezuelan rebels, an order that has been paid for by the US government.

The business was booming all thanks to some crazy Americans who are intent on waging an unending war to keep their defence industry floating. He could care less what those crazy Yankees were doing, so long as they didn't interfere in his business he was fine. He never held a grudge against the Americans or any nation for that matter except those barbarians in Africa.

He felt the brand on his body burn. It was an insult to him and his father who was killed by the Wakandans. One day, he will have his revenge. He was not that unhappy about those fuckers as he did manage to kill a bunch of them when he made his escape.

'But all that pales in comparison to what I stole from those barbarians' he thought with glee as the Vibranium hidden safely inside his vault.

He shook away those thoughts as it was his turn to play. Just as he was about to play his hand the light went off plunging the room into darkness.

"Looks like the light went off boss." said Ed

"I know genius. Now, do something about it!" said Klaue with an eye roll.

He heard the distinct sound of the iron doors opening.

"Boss, it looks like the whole ship is out of power." said Ed

"That's impossible." said Klaue with a frown. "Men, switch to weapons."

"Phones are dead." another one of his men said and he has could hear the fear in the voice.

Torchlights were now lighting up throughout the deck mounted on the guns. An entire army was present inside his ship and he was confident no one would be mad enough to take him on in his ship.

Suddenly, there was a metal screeching sound that shook him. It felt like metal was being warped and his ears bled from the sound. His men were on the floor screaming and cupping their ears to shield themselves from the sound. Then he felt his ship rock violently throwing him across the room.

A blast of red hot laser blasted through the floor of his room and it began to cut in a pattern of square shape. He jumped back as the laser came too close to his body for his liking. His men were screaming and he watched with fear as Ed got his legs cut off at the knees. The laser made a few more passes and then it all stopped.

Klaue never had felt this much fear in his life. The rage he was familiar with, even helplessness he could cope with. But now, he was feeling sheer fear and only one time did he allow himself to feel fear and that was in that blasted country. His eyes widened in realization.

"My vault!" he screamed and at that moment a large hole was punched through his ship and he watched with rage as his vault disappeared into the hole cut from the bottom of his ship.

He knew there was no point in staying in a sinking ship so he threw his efforts into escaping the ship. By some stroke of luck, he managed to find a good vantage point to jump into the sea. He watched with rage as the sea rumbled and a ship rose from the deep sea. It was invisible to his eye but he could still see that it was a ship because of the water it was splashing.

The ship blasted away into the night sky while he was forced to watch as his ship sank to the bottom of the ocean.

"I will have my revenge you filthy mongrels. I will have my revenge and slaughter your entire fucking country!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.