Chapter 2: First Impressions

It was an hour since Cerion woke up, and he should have freaked out, but he managed to stay calm and focused. There was no point in freaking out at the moment. He supposed there was a lot of time for that to happen.

He was conscious the moment he entered the planet's atmosphere. When he woke up, he found himself restrained and in a body bag. From that simple fact, he deduced that his ship might have broken apart, and somehow, he found himself on another planet. Thankfully, the planet was one with a Yellow Star for a sun because he could feel an unholy strength coursing through his body. Fortunately, he was still wearing the rebreather, shielding him from any sensory overload. He just continued to stay silent throughout the journey.

It was on the ground that the play changed pace. The moment his rescuers unravelled the bag, they noticed that he had regained consciousness. Then there was the customary freak-out by the humans, and he was glad he was in the custody of humans rather than any other alien species. There was nothing they could do that would harm him, so that was a relief unless they had Kryptonite, which was not cool. The humans continued their freak-out, and the military base they had taken him blared with alarms. He calmly broke the restraints and stood on his own legs. He was immediately converged upon from all sides by gun-wielding soldiers, mounted machine guns, artillery and tanks.

Then, he took a good look around the military base. The weapons and vehicles used by the soldiers were more advanced than the norm of the 1970s or the 80s. Another curious fact was that the soldiers were not wearing their standard uniform but rather uniforms in black. They looked like special-ops soldiers, and then there were several people dressed in tight bodysuits. The common factor in all these people was that they had a silver eagle logo on their uniforms. The only plausible explanation he could come up with was that either the Phantom Drive caused a time dilation field around himself or Earth was truly advanced enough. But to honestly know what happened without giving himself away to his rescuers, he had to take a risky step.

He again looked around the base and noticed it was in the middle of a desert. Nodding to himself, he deactivated the rebreather. The polymorphous glass shielding of his suit pulled back, and he was exposed to the air of Earth.

He instinctively closed his eyes and breathed in Earth's rich, nourishing air. He could hear the soldiers scream out warnings and threats but he didn't give a fuck to what they were saying. Having lived in a ticking time bomb of a planet that was Krypton he could truly appreciate the beauty of Earth. Krypton was just dying, and its air was polluted beyond anyone's imagination. A smile automatically blossomed on his face as he felt how thin the air was and how weak the gravity felt on Earth. In Krypton it felt like the planet was trying its hardest to ensure everything living in it felt its displeasure. Earth felt like a hot girl trying to woo you into staying with her for the rest of her life.

Cerion's smile abruptly disappeared when his enhanced senses hit him. It felt like the world was bearing down upon him, and every sound on the entire planet was being shot into his brain like bullets. He could feel his hands shake and almost slipped out of control, but his training kicked in.

From the moment he had planned the escape out of Krypton, he was training to master his senses. It was one thing to train for something that was only a hypothetical scenario, but it was quite another to truly apply what he learned when the situation called for it. It took some time for him to truly suppress many of his senses and focus on his own body. He managed to wrestle his senses and suppress them back. The real problem was his hearing because the sounds were very much distracting and painful. Comparatively, his vision was more manageable.

He took a deep breath and focused. He could feel that a force field was covering the entirety of his body. He would have genuinely liked to use what he assumed to be the tactile telekinesis field to fly away but he suppressed that urge. Instead, he used the momentary respite and control over his super senses to use his enhanced vision. He could see through concrete and steel, and his reach extended all around the base suddenly. What he saw took his breath away and only added more questions.

He saw the date on a digital clock, which was 1st January 2000. The problem, however, was that he also saw several people that should frankly not exist in the DC Universe. There was a guy in a black trench coat dressed up as a pirate with an eye patch and all. The guy looked like a carbon copy of Samuel L Jackson, and the guy was observing everything from a bunker below the base through a video feed.

Then, there was Clark Gregg dressed in a black suit. The guy was closing in on his position, and as if that was not weird enough, he could see that one of the astronauts on his rescue team was Cobie Smulders. That was a WTF moment that truly floored him, and he didn't know how to proceed. Frankly, he was ready to bolt straight into the sky and look for Kal-El.

As the thought of making a quick escape passed through his head, Clark Gregg stepped forward and addressed him.

"Hello, welcome to Earth. Can you understand me? Please nod once if you can understand what I am saying."

Cerion nodded slowly as if he was unsure how to respond exactly.

"Good, my name is Agent Phil Coulson. Can we know your name?" the guy in the suit asked, which made Cerion freeze.

Agent Phil Coulson? Where the fuck am I? Am I in some kind of weird DC-Marvel mixed universe? WTF!

He decided to file away that detail for later and concentrated on the here and now.

"My name is Cerion-Vex. I apologise if I caused you any discomfort or alarm." said Cerion with a slight dip of his head.

There was no loss in being a little bit courteous. He had practised the British accent for blending in on Earth, and now it was just bleeding into his speech.

"We fished you out from an orbit close to our planet. We had thought you to be dead. Can you explain how you found yourself close to our planet and how you survived space?" asked Coulson, who discreetly signalled the soldiers to lower their weapons.

Cerion knew that every piece of information would be used against him at some point. Therefore, he decided to be as vague and believable as possible.

"I once again apologise to have startled you and your people. My ship's Phantom Drive malfunctioned, and a space-time anomaly deposited me close to your planet. As for how I survived, it is quite obvious. The suit protected me."

"I see. You look like a human, and you speak our language well. What exactly are you? How can you speak our language so well?" asked Coulson.

Now, that was a tricky question. He could go with the route of Krypton used the same language, which would be a lie, and he would be caught red-handed. Earth itself has thousands of languages, so it stands to reason that other planets have different languages.

So, he decided to go with a bit of half-truth.

"Our earliest ancestors have met before Agent Coulson. It must have been thousands of years before when your people were less polished and developed. The language that you use is remarkably similar to what we use, although I don't know whether your written script is similar to that of Krypton."

"Krypton? That's the name of your planet?"

"Yes. I am a Kryptonian from the system of Rao. Although it doesn't matter now."

"What do you mean?"

"Krypton's core has been destabilising recently. We have been trying to find a solution or even evacuate our people to the moon of our planet. We have failed, and now, by some fluke accident, I am halfway across the universe. I doubt there is anything left of Krypton except scattered rocks."

That brought the mood down around them. Cerion could see that Coulson was thinking on how to proceed from there and he waited patiently for the agent. Using his super-senses, he heard the radio crackle to life in Coulson's ear, and it was Nick Fury's voice.

"Ask him about the ship he arrived here. Ask him about whether there are other survivors?"

"Are there any other survivors?" asked Coulson with a solemn face that would have fooled anyone as a sympathetic guy.

"I hope so, but very unlikely. Our evacuation protocols were not yet enacted because Krypton's ruling council had yet to give the go-ahead."

"I see. You have my deepest condolences. What about your ship? If you were close to Earth's orbit then surely your ship must be also close. We can help you recover the ship if it endured the travel." Coulson offered, but Cerion could see where this was going.

They wanted the ship for any technologies or data it would hold. Again, this presented a dilemma. He could just allow them to scourge space for any remains of the ship and hope that they never find anything. Doing that will make him indebted to SHIELD, and they will be dealing with him from a position of strength, especially if they find something.

He blinked as an idea came to his mind. It was going to expose him somewhat, but it would nicely counterweight his position on Earth, especially with Fury watching this exchange.

"You don't have to worry, Agent Coulson. I will search for any remains of my ship myself. There is no need to waste your resources." said Cerion before he took a few steps back from Coulson, who looked on in confusion.

He took a deep breath and bent his legs a little bit, and then, with a boom, he was away, flying into the air. He could feel the gravity of Earth trying to drag him down, but having lived in Krypton, Earth's gravity felt like a gentle tug. He could feel a force field covering his entire body, and suddenly, he punched through the air with no more barriers to hold him down. A sonic boom was left in his wake as his body cut through the air, completely overtaking the speed of sound. He was among the clouds, and it was just pure joy coursing through his mind.

"Whhhhoooooo."

He let out a whoop of joy as one of his greatest wishes came true. He has attained the ability for unaided flight. Wingsuit and Base jumping can fuck off as the sky was now his oyster.

****

The sun was setting slowly in the distance, and Coulson began to make his way to the special quarters that SHIELD hadassigned for their extraterrestrial guest. It has not been easy for most SHIELD agents to stay in the base, knowing that they housed a being who possessed powers far beyond their imagination. The only one who was experienced in dealing with super-powered beings was Nick Fury. But the Director had chosen to take a back seat and charged him to deal with their new guest.

Cerion-Vex represented a great opportunity or a great deal of calamity for Earth. It was Coulson's duty to properly vet him. Already, the threat level of Cerion had gone up after he demonstrated he could fly straight out of Earth's orbit well beyond Mach 9 speed with no external aid. From that single incident, it was easy to predict other possible powers of their guest. Super strength well beyond even the dreams of Captain America was a sure thing.

All SHIELD analysts were absolutely sure that there was nothing physical that could ever hurt Vex. If the guy could survive flying at speeds that even the most advanced rockets in NASA's arsenal could not, then the guy's strength was off the charts. Other projected abilities include enhanced senses, extreme resistance to basic elements and super speed. Frankly, even the projected abilities were terrifying to behold and he wondered just what other powers Vex possessed. It was imperative to assess what his intentions were, as he knew it was a bad idea to just ask the guy to get out of their planet.

Turning a corner, he found himself outside the door to the quarters assigned for Vex. He knocked on the door three times and stepped back a little bit.

"Mr Vex. Can I come in?"

"Please do come in, Agent Coulson."

Coulson opened the door and let himself inside.

"I see you have started working on the drone promptly." said Coulson as he moved closer to Cerion who quickly finished what he was doing to properly greet Coulson.

"The quicker I restore the drones, the quicker I can restore my ship or what's left of it."

Coulson nodded in understanding. The Director was not happy to learn that the wreckage of the alien ship was now safely tucked away inside a giant hole on the moon. The only thing that Vex brought back from the wreckage to Earth were several drones that he claimed would help speed up the ship's restoration. Unfortunately, the drones were in bad shape and needed some patchwork.

"Anything that you need to speed up the process?"

"Oh no. What you have provided so far is more than enough to restore the drones. The real challenge will be the ship itself." said Cerion as he sat opposite Coulson.

"I gathered that, which is why this conversation is important. Director Fury has agreed to vouch for your asylum on Earth, but know that this will be a tough position to sell to our government. The last time a group of aliens visited us, they tried to bomb us back to the Stone Age with their fleet. Many among our government will be against helping you rebuild your ship."

"You need something in return for your aid, and it will keep you clear from your government's pressure." Vex said with a straight face.

"Exactly." Coulson nodded, but he kept the truth in his mind.

The 'government' was not going to hear anything from SHIELD. The only ones who will be informed will be the President of the United States and the World Security Council.

"Let's negotiate."

That statement was followed by almost a three-hour-long discussion. In the end, Coulson retreated back from Vex's quarters with a satisfied smile. He was careful to make his expression impassive when he handed over a detailed report to Director Fury regarding the finer points of the deal he made with Vex.

"So he agrees to share his technology and aid us in developing our own in military, space, energy, manufacturing, cyber and medical fields in return for asylum and material help in restoring his spaceship. He also promises to work with SHIELD to defend Earth from any extraterrestrial threat so long as he is granted citizenship on Earth. Those are some good terms." Fury commented as he read through the report.

"I have catalogued all the technologies that Cerion has promised to provide in a separate document according to categories." said Coulson, and Fury acknowledged him with a nod.

"What about the DNA sample as well as his consent for some tests?" asked Fury

"Denied the both of them. He is prohibited by his government from sharing DNA of himself or that of any Kryptonian with other races. That is a fundamental law on their planet. Kryptonians are also forbidden to procreate with other races in the Universe."

"If he is the last Kryptonian, then how exactly does he think he can rebuild their race?" asked Fury.

"I asked that, sir. According to Vex, Krypton has stopped having natural births for thousands of years. I have included that in a detailed report about Kryptonian history and how modern Krypton was shaped as a result."

"Hmm. The Council will be disappointed at not getting a DNA sample. But we have ways to collect that, don't we, Coulson?"

"Already on it, sir. We will be sweeping his room for every scrap of samples."

"Good. Have you gleaned any of his future plans?" asked Fury.

"At the moment, he is concentrating on rebuilding the ship. After that, he wants to search the wreckage of his planet and search for any survivors."

"Hmm. I will take this to the Council. But I don't have to tell you to keep an eye on our guest." said Fury with his one-eyed stare.

"You don't have to worry about that, sir. I've got it covered." said Coulson before getting ready to leave.

"Coulson."

Halfway to the door, he paused and turned around.

"Yes, sir?"

"Have you thought of where he would stay for the duration of his stay?"

"No, sir."

"You better start thinking."

"Will do, sir."