"Why are you laughing like that?" Cerion asked as he watched Jane trying and failing to suppress laughter.
"It's just amusing to me that you - an alien is decorating a Christmas tree, of all things."
"Why? Christmas is part of your culture," Cerion said, secretly lamenting that he didn't have enough Christmas trees.
It was a ritual in his house to decorate two Christmas trees in his human life. After all, he was the youngest of three siblings, and he was as stubborn as a mule when it came to having his own Christmas tree.
"You do know that it's a religious celebration, right?" asked Jane as she handed over a few strips of tinsel.
'She's one of 'those' people.' he thought with a roll of his eyes.
"Not really. It hardly has anything to do with religion nowadays," he said, pointing to himself and the Christmas tree he was painstakingly prepping, "Christmas holidays have become an excuse for exchanging gifts and saying nice things about people you disagree with. All in all, a good day."
"Still, aren't you bothered by the religion and its significance behind it?"
When Jane didn't let it go, he stopped decorating his precious tree and focused on Jane.
"Why do you ask?"
"I'm just curious how you view humanity and the religions that we created. If you haven't noticed, Earth's religions are very self-centric."
"Do you believe in God?" he asked, taking a moment to gather his thoughts.
"Of course not! I'm a scientist, and I learned there was no God when I learned about Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Else, I'll be a poor scientist." Jane said, turning her nose up.
"Alright. So, you refuse to believe in God. Say, I believe in God. What makes you or I any different?"
"Because your belief is based on assumption after reading a book while mine is a conclusion based on facts that I learned from many books."
"Essentially, the difference between you and me is that we think differently. Why should an alien care what you think? I'd rather be curious about how you act?"
"But religion denies there is life outside of Earth," Jane argued
"I don't think they do. Many of Earth's largest religions claim to hold the truth behind human existence, not the existence of the Universe." he pointed out, "Besides religion is an inexpensive way of psychiatry. The mind of a sentient being is extremely volatile. When humanity was at a stage where they had no tools to delve into the nature of existence, someone came up with an explanation to settle them."
"You'd call religion a form of psychiatry?" Jane asked incredulously.
"A very inexpensive one. Of course, it has its demons, but still…" he shrugged before returning to the Christmas tree.
"I'd thought you'd have leaned on an Atheistic point of view." Jane pouted.
"Jane, I can fly at a speed beyond hypersonic missiles. I can singlehandedly collapse a building if I have to. I can survive in outer space without air. The basic elements can't harm me. I can think and act at a speed that would baffle the human mind. Do you really think that the Universe has no spiritual dimension? The Atheistic argument will also not hold up since I know for sure there is a spiritual dimension to our existence beyond just matter."
"Interesting." said Jane with a strange look on her face.
Before he could decipher what she was thinking, the doorbell rang. It had become second nature for him to wear the necklace all the time. It sort of brought normalcy to his life. Knowing everything that was happening under the Sun was turning out to be a curse rather than a gift nowadays.
"As they say, ignorance is bliss.' he thought before opening the door to see Maria Hill at his doorstep.
"Good morning." she waved friendly.
"Good morning." Cerion nodded, masking his surprise, "Didn't think SHIELD would send you over."
"Are you busy?"
"I have time to spare." said Cerion.
"Let's go then. The Director is waiting for you."
Cerion raised an eyebrow when Agent Hill walked back to her car, expecting him to follow. Letting out a sigh, he left his home after informing Jane.
After a fifteen-minute ride, he was led to a helipad, where a chopper was waiting for him. Cerion and Maria Hill took their seats, and the chopper took off into the air.
"So, any Christmas plans? Or do SHIELD agents not get the Christmas day off?" he asked.
"I've always noticed you're awfully familiar with Earth. Why is that?" Maria asked.
"Nice deflection. Do they train you for it, or are you just naturally this defensive?" he asked in exasperation at Agent Hill's penchant for turning their conversations into interrogations.
"Earth was attacked by an alien fleet. I think you can give me some latitude here."
"Fair enough." he nodded as he looked around the chopper curiously. "So, shall I send you a Christmas gift, or will it be inappropriate?"
"I'm not giving you my address." said Hill.
"Why? Aren't we friends?" he put together a pained face.
"I don't know. Are we?" she raised a brow with a poker face.
"Cheeky."
"You are far too happy and weird. What changed?" she asked, her lips twitching slightly.
"I'm glad you asked. I just had an epiphany. I assumed that I was different from humanity, but perhaps I was wrong. I'm just as volatile, idiotic, pretentious and imperfect as you lot." he declared happily.
"That's great." Hill said sarcastically.
"It is, isn't it? It's liberating actually." he said as he sat back into his seat and pondered his mental state and how free he felt.
Looking back, he could only see a half-dead version of himself fighting and clawing against the world, still influenced by the survival mode he had employed in Krypton.
"I'm glad you found your true self. But we're here," said Agent Hill with a roll of her eyes.
True enough. When Cerion looked through the window, he could see that the land gave way to the sea and an aircraft carrier, along with a few destroyers, down below. He engaged his enhanced vision and scanned the vessel further.
It was no Hellicarrier. It was just an ordinary aircraft carrier, but it had a lot of advanced weaponry inside. Not to mention the four nuclear submarines circling the carrier fleet and some quinjets prepped and ready on the runway.
He did not believe they were turning their weapons hot on his behalf. Most likely, SHIELD had yet to backpedal from their war footing. Of course, he was also keeping an eye on his deep space scanners engaged for 24 hours. If the Kree decided to visit the Sol System, he would know, and he would send them a very warm gift. He was already modifying and weaponising the space bridge since he had access to more facilities and resources from the Kree city.
The chopper set down on a helipad, and he climbed out first, followed by Agent Hill. He was led to a door where Agent Coulson was waiting with a placid smile.
"Good morning." Coulson greeted.
"Good morning to you, too. So, looking up, are we?" asked Cerion, jabbing his thumb at the sky.
"We've got no choice. Thanks for the save yesterday."
"You know you are the first human to thank me. So, you are quite welcome." Cerion smiled, accepting their gratitude graciously.
"You are in a good mood." Coulson observed.
"It's Christmas. Whi isn't?"
"That's a good reason as any, I suppose." Coulson nodded before holding out a door for him. "After you."
Cerion obliged and entered first. It was a large room fit for a conference, and in the very middle, a large table was stacked with files and photos. At the end of the table sat the one-eyed leader of SHIELD, Nick Fury.
"You have been busy," he noted as he glanced at the photos laid out on the table.
"You don't say. I haven't slept since yesterday's incident and I'm sure this is the same for almost all SHIELD military bases across the world." said Fury before standing up and slowly walked over to Cerion.
Fury stared for a whole minute before fishing out a file from his trench coat.
"These are the satellite images we took of the Kree fleet. We also took certain images and recordings of your fight with the Kree," said Fury as he handed over the file to Cerion, who flipped through the photos.
"Is there a question there?" he asked, looking at the SHIELD Director out of the corner of his eyes.
"I have many."
"Ask away?"
"Why did the Kree attack you?" asked Fury.
"That's the same question that I meant to ask you. Why were the Kree attacking Earth? It is not as if the Kree have any standing interests in your planet, is there?" Cerion lightly goaded, knowing full well that Fury will think of the Tesseract.
"So, you are saying yesterday's events have nothing to do with you?" asked Fury.
"As far as I know, no." the lie came as easy as breathing.
"I sense you are keeping secrets from us, Mr Vex." said Fury.
"Of course. You are not my trusted friend. Why should I tell you my secrets?" he asked with a scoff.
"Very well?" Fury sighed before he fished out another picture from the table. It was a picture of Cerion in space firing off his laser beam at the ships. "Explain this?"
"It is a picture of me in space trying to destroy a Kree ship." he said with a shrug.
"That's impressive, but I'm more interested in knowing why you are not using any breathing equipment." Fury shot him his one-eyed stare.
"I don't need one." he shrugged.
"I see. So that brings me to the question. Just what are you?" asked Fury, and Cerion could now see a hint of wariness in the man's tone.
"Your fear is natural, Director Fury. It is something you have inherited from your evolutionary process and something that has helped you survive on this planet. But know that I will not harm your planet. I have zero hostility towards humanity."
"That's all nice and well, but just what are you? How can you survive space?" asked Fury.
"I'm hardly the only one able to do so, Director. There are many species capable of doing the same. You could say I don't need to breathe to live, but I do prefer breathing. You should have learned by now that my body while looking human, is anything but human-like."
"Oh, we noticed, Mr Vex." said Alexander Pierce, who stepped into the room smoothly.
"Mr Vex, meet Alexander Pierce. He is the acting secretary of SHIELD. After yesterday's events, he insisted on meeting you." said Fury.
"I see. Good to meet you, Secretary Pierce." Cerion shook hands with the man hardly surprised to see the head of HYDRA.
He was wondering when the man would come out of the shadows.
"Nick here is a sceptic of almost anything that looks too good to be true. That's part of his job. I have to say that I was also apprehensive of your intentions, but certain events have shifted our priorities. So we would like you to extend an apology."
"Oh." he raised a curious eyebrow.
"We made a deal when you first touched down on Earth, and we broke that deal with good reason, mind you. But still, we broke your trust, and for that, we apologise." said Pierce.
"I accept your Apology, and I appreciate the gesture, Mr Secretary." Cerion said with a straight face, ignoring the urge to have a few choice words to say about SHIELD's extracurricular activities.
"That's good to hear," said Pierce with a pleasant smile, but Cerion knew the man was a snake. "Now, the reason we're so interested in gaining your DNA is that we had the distinct pleasure of being infiltrated by aliens a few years back."
"I understand. Earth has been the recipient of visits by old races for a long time." said Cerion.
"What do you mean?" asked Fury, interjecting with a cautionary look at Pierce.
"The Kree have visited your planet thousands of years ago. The same goes for Frost Giants, Asgardians, Celestials and many other old races. Earth has been the dumping ground for anything that ought to be hidden from the wider galactic community." Cerion could see the two men were suitably alarmed by the names of races he had just randomly thrown around.
Seeing that he had their undivided attention now, he hoped to subtly turn their resources on some self-defence rather than petty games and big honky guns to blow themselves up. It was a vain hope, but he hoped SHIELD could be better prepared to face more alien incursions in the future.
"Humans have largely remained ignorant of the origins and nature of the universe, and you have stayed isolated for so long. If the Old races required something to be hidden, your planet has been the perfect place to do so as it is often dismissed as a backwater planet."
Cerion could already see the two men thinking about recent findings from the last century. He knew HYDRA was already aware of the Kree's interest in Earth. The cult followers of Hive must've informed HYDRA about their ancient history. Or perhaps HYDRA was not aware of all the details. SHIELD and HYDRA certainly knew about the Tesseract, and it was not as if these two gentlemen were about to doubt his words when the truth was staring right at their faces.
"Believe it or not, we have also come to the same conclusion. So, this brings us to the reason why we requested this meeting. It remains SHIELD's solemn duty to protect our planet from threats both from inside and outside. Can we depend on your support?" asked Pierce.
"As long as Earth doesn't start a war with another civilisation and you don't ask me to interfere in your regional conflicts, I will help defend this planet in whatever capacity I can." he promised.
An easy enough promise to keep one that he would have done so anyway. In return, he could now operate more freely with SHIELD's backing. That's what Alexander Pierce was offering: SHIELD's support, both financially and politically, to advance Earth's defence mechanisms and technology.
Cerion could see a lot of advantages in such a deal. Pierce obviously thought about advancing HYDRA's goals in the background. If HYDRA could infiltrate SHIELD, then he believed he could do the same to spearhead his cause. After all, in the game of cat and mouse, information was the ammunition, and timing was the weapon. For now, Cerion had the advantage, and the close relationship with SHIELD would allow him more access to their activities.
It was now time to track his enemies and study them in their habitat before he used the intel gathered at the most opportune moment.