Chapter 20: In a desert

The day was unlike any other she had seen. The sun was dim and the air felt dead to her. Then there was the constant buzzing in her ears that would not go away.

It felt as if she was having trouble seeing and breathing as she normally would. The reason behind her half-dead state was her father.

She was in Atlanta working on some astronomical data and observatories as a part of her research when she got a call from Virginia about her father's accident. There were not many details but the accident happened in one of the labs of Culver.

Supposedly, there was a leakage of poisonous gas or something and it affected those present at the university. That was a load of BS and she knew that because those who were affected were far too many.

Culver had many safeguards to weather such gas spills. She had phoned many of her friends and learned the entire staff of Culver was affected by the event. It did not take her too long to conclude that this was radiation rather than a gas spill.

Everyone within 50 miles radius of Culver has been evacuated as a precaution by the military.

Her father along with other inhabitants of Culver present during the spill was moved to a military hospital. In so far, she has been denied access to even visit her father. It also didn't help she had no clue where her father was admitted. Beyond 'a military hospital' she didn't know the exact name or location of this hospital.

She had contacted many of her father's friends but all of those contacts didn't yield any results.

A knock on her door made her look up from the family picture she held in her hands

She placed the picture back on her desk before she opened the door.

"Jane, I am so sorry. I was presenting a paper in New York when I heard what happened."

It was Erik Selvig, an old friend of her father.

"No, it's okay. Please come in Erik." she invited her father's friend in.

"Have you heard anything from Jacob?" asked Erik as he took a seat on a sofa.

"I was hoping you could have contacted him. I don't know anything and the military sort of took over and just says National Security in every bloody sentence."

"I have been trying a few of my colleagues but they are either ignorant or someone is forcing them to remain silent." said Erik which made Jane worry more. If Erik couldn't find out what was going on with all his contacts then Jane had no option but to stay ignorant about her father's whereabouts.

"Don't worry Jane. I have reached out to many other contacts. They will turn up with something…" Erik trailed off as a knock on the door distracted them.

"Excuse me…" said Jane as she went to open the door. To her surprise, it was Cerion whom she hugged readily. "I didn't know you'd come."

"Of course I would." said Cerion as he stepped into her apartment.

"Uh…Jane?" Erik tentatively stood up eyeing the newcomer warily.

"Oh…Erik, this is Cerion Vex. Cerion this is Erik Selvig, a close friend of my father." Jane introduced the two men

"Hi." Cerion shook hands with Erik Selvig

"Vex? I've heard of that name somewhere?" said Erik as he shook hands with Cerion.

"Probably from my company Vex Corp. You may have heard of our Aegis software. We are also entering the manufacturing sector next month with a product launching a few weeks from now. Perhaps, you are familiar with YouStream."

Erik was taken back by the rapid-fire from Cerion so he just nodded to all of the above positively even though he barely understood all that was said.

"So, are you ready to meet your father?" asked Cerion turning on Jane.

"I don't know where he is. No one knows and those who know something refuse to say anything." said Jane

"I looked up what went wrong with your father. I called in a favour with a friend. A car is waiting outside and if you want we can go now."

"How?" Erik asked in surprise as he has been trying from the moment he learned of the incident to get some information.

"My friend is influential. So want to tag along?"

"Sure." Erik answered not knowing what else to say at the rapid progression of events. Besides, in the present situation, the details were not that important. The important thing was to see his friend.

The three of them were escorted to a private airport on a black sedan by men in suits.

"Coulson put you to this task did he?" asked Cerion as he greeted Maria Hill near their transport.

"Just get in the plane." said Agen Hill before she eyed Erik Selvig who stood out like a sore thumb. "Who's the tag along?"

"This is Dr Erik Selvig. He is my father's friend." Jane introduced but Agent Hill was not so interested.

"Only two passengers were allowed. No tagalongs." said Agent Hill sharply.

"Oh, come on. The good doctor is Mr Foster's friend."

Agent Hill offered a frosty look to Cerion. "No tagalongs. Only two passengers as previously agreed."

"It's okay Jane, Mr Vex." Erik said as he was escorted away from the jet.

"Please step in." said Agent Hill waving them into the jet.

A few minutes later Jane and Cerion were up in the air.

Jane eyed the raven-haired SHIELD agent who had strapped in beside her seat and then Cerion who was sitting opposite to her reading a magazine. She knew the Agent beside her was Cerion's contact/handler.

"Hi, I'm Jane. Jane Foster." she introduced herself as she offered her hand to the female agent.

"Maria Hill." the agent reciprocated neutrally while shaking her hand.

"So… you know he's you know…" Jane subtly pointed at Cerion with her head.

"Yes."

"Oh, good. If you know that then you should know what's happening with my father, right?" asked Jane

"Your father is kept in a classified military base. All I know is I'm to escort you both to the base."

"Don't bother with Maria. She is a stricter for rules." commented Cerion

"Double so when I'm with an alien." added Agent Hill

"Touché." said Cerion as he flickered his eyes in her direction before going back to reading the magazine.

"Can you say anything about my father's condition?" asked Jane

"Your father is safe. He is having the best medical care in the world." assured Agent Hill calmly.

"We'll see soon enough. In the meantime, you ladies care to listen to some music?" asked Cerion out of the blue.

Jane watched with furrowed brows as Cerion fished out a small device the size of a three-pin plug. Then Cerion offered her and Agent Hill two pairs of small plugs connected with a wire with rubber buds at the tips.

"These are earplugs. Just press the switch on the side and plug it in your ears like this." said Cerion as he demonstrated by fitting the earplugs into his ear.

Jane hesitantly copied Cerion and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Agent Hill doing the same thing. As she pressed the button the earplug let out a beeping sound in her ear followed by a feminine voice.

"Power ON."

Now, that was a surprise. Then she watched as Cerion pressed a blue button on the device in his hand.

"Bluetooth connection engaged. Device paired."

The feminine voice returned.

Cerion once again did something which caused the feminine voice to speak up once more.

"Multiple pairings engaged."

Cerion pressed the play button displayed prominently on the device and the music started to play in Jane's ears. The sound was crystal clear and the beats of the Rubberband Man kicked off smoothly. She closed her eyes and sank back to her seat as the player cycled through different songs throughout the journey.

Somewhere around she fell asleep but she was shaken awake by the landing of the plane.

"Where are we?" asked Jane as she looked out of the glass window only to see a vast desert.

"Somewhere in New Mexico, I assume." said Cerion as he offered her the player.

"Isn't this yet to launch?" she asked confused

"Keep it as an advanced birthday present." said Cerion as he offered her a bottle of water.

Taking the bottle of water from Cerion's hand, she greedily drank surprising herself with how thirsty she was.

"Why? Going somewhere on my birthday?" she asked as she capped the bottle.

"Well… some things have come up but that can wait." said Cerion as he pointed to the open door of the plane and an impatient Agent Hill standing by the door.

As they climbed out of the plane, Jane noticed a slew of military vehicles arrayed on the runway. There were some armed soldiers as well and her heart raced lightly in panic.

"Calm down, Jane. You are safe and trust me when I say your father is alright… or at least he will be alright." whispered Cerion which calmed her down somewhat.

"General Ross." Agent Hill nodded respectfully as she addressed an older man in military uniform.

One look at General Ross, Jane could see the man oozed stubbornness. The hard look in his eyes and the rigid posture of the General keyed into the fact that the man was not at all happy to see the three of them.

"Agent Hill. I was promised that I'll get the best doctors to treat the patients." said General Ross gruffly. "Yet, I don't see any doctors."

"You were promised help in healing the patients under your care. Mr Vex is more than capable of accomplishing this if you give him access." said Agent Hill sharply.

Jane watched the female agent eying the General icily for a time until the General broke the staring contest. And with that, some tension was lifted but she kept her silence. She was not supposed to visit the base but SHIELD had forged her a fake ID to let her in.

"Son, do you think you can heal the patients?" asked General Ross turning to Cerion.

"All I know is that my prospective patients are suffering from radiation poisoning. I need any data you have collected till now to give you an accurate answer." Cerion said calmly

"I hope you know what you are doing. There are sixty-eight patients in there including my daughter." said General Ross with a gruff look.

"Then let's not dally any longer. After you, General."

And they were on the way to what Jane assumed to be the hospital that housed her father as well as other inhabitants of Culver.

The three of them were sitting inside a military vehicle with escorts riding through the desert. She was looking over the patient files that General Ross handed over to Cerion inside the car.

"I was right. There was no poison gas spill. It is radiation poisoning. My fath…" she cut herself off as Agent Hill made a gesture to shut up as there were military personnel inside the vehicle.

"It is Gamma radiation. Symptoms include rapid hair loss, accelerating cellular damage, nausea and vomiting. All of them are classic symptoms of ionizing radiation. The amount of radiation and the nature of progression rates shown in these reports suggests Gamma radiations." said Cerion after he flipped through the reports.

"Many patients are also suffering from organ failure but some others are not, why?" asked Agent Hill

"It varies. The concentration of radiation to one part of the body perhaps. Perhaps some parts of the building shielded the people from getting the worst of it. But they will inevitably succumb to dangerous levels soon."

"Can you help them?" asked Jane

"I can." Cerion nodded and that put Jane at ease.

By now, she knew some bits and pieces of Cerion's abilities not to mention the technology her boyfriend possess. Restoring human peak condition is something within her boyfriend's capacity.

"I hope you do. We had to pull a lot of levers to arrange this meeting." whispered Agent Hill

"And I appreciate the troubles SHIELD went through. Please convey my thanks to Agent Coulson and Director Fury."

Agent Hill just nodded and the rest of the journey passed by in silence.

When they finally reached the military hospital they were let through after a slew of searches on their possessions. Soon they were led to an isolated chamber housing a single patient and General Ross turned on them.

"So, here is your first patient. What's your method of treatment?" asked General Ross

"Just sedate the patient and leave the rest to me." said Cerion as he sat down on a chair outside the chamber with a briefcase on his lap.

Jane watched the doctors inside the chamber in protective suits administered a sedative to the patient. After which they stepped out and everyone was looking at Cerion expectantly. A nurse even offered Cerion a PPE kit but Cerion declined the offer.

Instead, her boyfriend decided to open his briefcase and four silver discs floated into the air with a distinctive hum.

She was not the only one startled to find what appears to be four pieces of metal floating in the air defying gravity on their own.

"What is this?" General Ross whispered but all of them heard the general quite clearly.

"This is the peak of rapid health restoration technology, General. I call it Revivers. The way they function is by transmitting Vita rays targeting damaged cells and tissues thereby helping it self heal." explained Cerion

"So, it regenerates cells. How long will this take?" asked Agent Hill and all of them could hear the wonder in her tone.

"In an average healthy human, anything between ten to fifteen minutes."

"That's impossible! That kind of metabolism is… is… is impossible!" said a military doctor in an incredulous tone.

"Just observe." said Cerion

The discs flew into the room and began to bombard the patient with white and yellow rays of light all over the body.

Twenty minutes later, a preliminary blood test revealed zero levels of Gamma radiation in the patient. The results were so promising the General hurried the treatment of all the other sixty-seven patients. A few hours later, both General Ross and Jane could let out a sigh of relief as Ross's daughter and Jane's father recovered from the deadly grip of ionizing radiation.

"I didn't know SHIELD could call in resources like these." said General Ross as he shook hands with Maria Hill. "You have my thanks for saving the life of my daughter."

Before any of them could respond the base shook as a roar reverberated through the walls. The roar was followed by a mild shockwave rattling the floor. Lights flickered and the roar came back followed by sounds of weapons being fired.

"What's happening?" asked Agent Hill in panic.

Jane flinched and moved closer to Cerion as another roar rumbled followed by screams of men.

"Escort them out of the base now." ordered General Ross and the soldiers rushed to obey.

Jane along with Cerion and Agent Hill was readily escorted out of the hospital despite their protests. Even the patients were being moved out of the hospital in a speedy manner. While the evacuation was happening, the base was being racked by tremors, screams and loud roars of rage.

By some miracle, all sixty-eight patients were prepped and ready to be transported out of the base. With that part of the process going smooth, the three of them were rushed towards a car to take them to the airstrip along with the patients.

But before they could get inside the car a metal door flew out with a bang smashing away their ride.

Jane felt her heart literally stop as she watched a giant green-skinned monster steeped into the open. It was at this point the soldiers decided to do the stupidest thing. They open fired on the green rage monster and it responded with a roar and smashed a military vehicle into a flat metallic plate. The monster then swung the vehicle around at the group of soldiers firing their weapons. The soldiers died in a shower of blood and gore while few managed to escape the attack.

It let out another terrifying roar that shook the ground before it jumped away. Each time the monster landed, the ground shook with a tremor followed by a sound similar to a clap of thunder.

"Well, you don't see that every day." said Cerion with total aloofness standing in a corner with his hands in his pant's pockets. "Anything else you got under these deserts that we should know about Agent Hill?"

It was at this point Jane's legs gave out and she sat down on the ground.

"Easy breaths Jane. Easy breaths." Cerion patted her shoulder and rubbed her back.

"What the hell was that thing?" Agent Hill asked eyeing the general direction of the green monster with an open mouth.

"The Hulk, perhaps?" Cerion suggested knowing full well the name was undoubtedly going to stick before he offered his help in healing the injured soldiers on the ground.