Vex (Man of Steel × MCU)

ria. ”

”Then I insist that you call me Cerion. ”

”See you soon Cerion. Take care of yourself. ” said Maria as she shook hands with him and then drove off.

Cerion got to admit the woman was a good spy. The entire conversation felt normal which was sort of what the SHIELD agent was angling for.

He fastened his side bag on his shoulder and slowly made his way inside the building.

”Back in early Mr Vex? ” the security guard asked as he held out the door for him.

”Not early enough to see my favourite TV show George. ” He joked lightly but as he stepped into the lobby it was filled with couches, cardboard boxes, some light furniture and other numerous appliances.

”Who…what is this George? ” he asked in surprise.

”Youve got a new neighbour Mr Vex. ” said Geroge and that worried Cerion.

”Thats great. ” He said as he made his way for the elevator. He worried that an agent was being drafted to keep a close watch on him. He knew that two agents were keeping an eye on him from across the street. SHIELD had learned to not install monitoring devices in the building after he systematically destroyed them in the last two months of his stay. From then on they had only kept an eye on him through the agents on the opposite building.

As he stepped out of the elevator on the fourth floor he was expecting the Black Widow or Hawkeye or some other agent of SHIELD. Contrary to all his expectations he was staring into the face of Natalie Portman.

The surprise only lasted for a few seconds before he regained his beatings.

”Hi. I am Jane Foster. I just moved in here. Are you by chance Cerion Vex? ” she asked with a bubbly persona.

”Nice to meet you, Miss Foster. I am Cerion Vex. How do you know that I live here? ” he asked as he shook hands with her. It took a considerable amount of effort not to address her as Miss Portman. As a Star Wars fan, Natalie Portman was someone that he held in very high regard.

”My friend is Janet Cornell. She told me about you. ”

”Ah! The lady running the café a few blocks from here? ”

”Yes. She told me about you and I needed an apartment close to my University. ”

”You study in Culver? ” he asked and it was then that he remembered that Jane Foster was an alumnus of Culver University. Come to think of it there were a lot of interesting individuals in Culver right now. He shook those thoughts away to listen properly to what Jane Foster was saying.

”I am studying under Erik Selvig. I know of course that you are an astrophysicist. ” She said with some obvious excitement.

”How do you know that? ” he asked flummoxed. He certainly had never divulged what his profession was to her or her friend in the café.

”Before moving here my father looked up the people of this whole block. He is paranoid that way. Sorry. ” She looked a little bashful now.

At least he could somewhat be less wary of Jane Foster. He was sure she was not here on SHIELD business. She would make a shitty spy but he was still on guard.

”I guess you are welcome to the neighbourhood. ”

”Thank you. ” Good God the woman had a beaming smile plastered on her face. If it wasn for his experience with dealing with this kind of shit then he would have gone full fan-crazy on her.

”You need any help with those things down in the lobby? ”

”Oh, no need. The guard outside offered his help. ”

”George is getting on his years, Miss Foster. I think it would be better if I helped. Just wait a little bit. ”

Having said that he left his bag inside his apartment and started to help move everything up into Jane Fosters apartment.

When he returned back to his apartment Optima was waiting for him there with all the data that he would need from the satellite. Just as he was about to activate Optima the space before him warped and what looked like see-through crystals began to form all of a sudden.

”Greetings to you Mr Vex. It has been many centuries I have seen a Celestial face to face. ”

A voice spoke from his back and he turned around to find a bald woman dressed in a golden silk robe. The only thing going through his mind was Oh **!.

The Ancient One lounged on the couch which was bright red. She wondered whether she could add a couch like this one in Kamar Taj. Truly this couch was better than what she had at the moment. Some paintings would also not be remiss as many masters have complained about a lack of colours in the sanctum.

”Tea. ” Cerion offered and she took the drink with a customary thank you.

”You know this is the only peaceful conversation that I had ever held with a Celestial. Usually, it devolves into outright threats and then a full-blown fight. ” She said as she took a sip of the tea. She had to admit that she preferred her own tea as this one was not up to the expectations of her taste buds.

”You repeatedly call me a Celestial but I am not one. My race is known as Kryptonian. ”

”Truly? ” she raised an eyebrow. The fact that the Time Stone was not at all able to predict Cerions future was clue enough that the being sitting in front of her was a Celestial.

”Yes. ”

”I am sorry to say that your lies will do you no good with me. You may fool SHIELD but I happen to know that there is no Krypton in this vast Cosmos. ”

She was alerted the moment when a powerful presence was brought inside Earths atmosphere. The only reason the shields projected by the sanctums allowed Cerion entry was because humans were the ones to bring him to Earth. The magical shield that enveloped the Earth was specifically designed to keep the prime bodies of Celestials out from Earth. There are ways around the shielding but she had plugged those gaps after one Celestial managed to breach through the shields some twenty years ago.

”I am telling you no lie. You just assumed that Krypton was a planet in your universe. I never said that I am from your universe. ”

Now that piqued her interest.

”Are you claiming to be from another universe? ” she asked with a healthy dose of scepticism.

”Yes and before you ask most of the people in that universe do not exist here. It took me some time to properly put that together. ”

”Please do elaborate. ”

”Most of the people here have a very different profession and names. For example, the Director of SHIELD was an actor on Earth. The same is true for Jane Foster who has moved in recently across the hall. Even your alter ego was an actor on the Earth I knew. In my home universe, there was no Captain America or Super Soldiers in general. There was an intergalactic policing force called Green Lanterns in my home universe but here nothing of that sort exists. There are a trillion other differences between our worlds and I have not even scratched the surface. ”

”I see. So you are an outer being like Dormammu. ” She muttered to herself with a perplexed look.

”Who? ” asked Cerion

”Dormammu is an outer being like yourself. This explains why you have been absorbing the life energy of the universe like a sponge. ” she explained patiently as her mind raced with thoughts.

”I did what now? What are you talking about? ” he asked in surprise

”Oh, dear. You have no idea what you have been doing all this time? ”

”I flew around a little bit and I did some corporate theft. Other than that I have never done anything that could threaten this planet. ”

”What do you know of magic or universal energies? ” she asked leaning forward with a note of urgency.

”Next to nothing other than the fact that they are supposed to be a fundamental force that governs the Universe. ”

”If you know nothing of magic or universal energies in general then how are you absorbing the humongous energies at a rate that even baffles an experienced Celestial? ” she asked in surprise.

”My powers come from absorbing the Yellow Sun radiations impinging on this planet. Kryptonian genes absorb any and all radiations especially gamma radiations. ”

”I am afraid you are not just absorbing radiations from the Sun. You are absorbing a huge amount of universal energies. This universe has an abundance of varying energies because of the unique way this universe took birth. These energies have already made a wide variety of changes in your body. I think you have not noticed this till now because your body has yet to reach its limit in absorbing these energies. ”

”What changes? ”

”Your cells are no longer dying out Mr Vex. It is one of the prime reasons that SHIELD has yet to procure a dead cell from your bed sheets or garbage. Essentially, your body has become immune to time. ”