Vex Chapter 41: The Black Panther (Patreon)

Cerion hadn’t planned on releasing Captain America from his cryo-sleep anytime soon. At least, he didn’t want the old soldier to wake up until the war in the Middle East was at its height. The last thing he wanted was for the old war hero to be thrown into a new battlefield right after the man sacrificed his life in World War 2.

But circumstances demanded the good Captain’s presence in the world. The war against HYDRA was one such instance, and Cerion theorised that the presence of a good captain would take the heat off his shoulders. Both SHIELD and HYDRA would be keeping an eye on a resurgent Captain America while they waged their shadow war. The general war in the Middle East would also throw more discord and confusion within the ranks of all intelligence agencies as enemies pop up all over the globe in one way or another.

Already, Cerion had picked up on the chatter among the intelligence community that pirates, smugglers, terrorists and other criminal elements were getting far too active because most nations were embroiled in war. It was almost as if World War 3 had broken out.

There was also an entirely selfless reason he was happy to release Captain America. The man had been lost in ice for far too long. Just holding the guy in cryo sleep after he extracted the secrets of the super soldier serum did not seem fair to him.

Therefore, he was happy to awaken Captain America from his decades-long slumber.

At first, Cerion thought of delivering Captain Rogers to SHIELD inside the cryo module. But then he thought better of it. There was a good chance HYDRA might intervene and SHIELD end up ‘misplacing’ Captain Rogers. So, he decided to risk it to wake the Captain in Koron itself.

“Release the cryo doors.” Cerion ordered.

“Are you sure, Lord Vex? Once Captain Rogers wakes, he’ll see our base, which would jeopardise us. SHIELD and HYDRA will know we have a base on the planet.” Optima warned him as she floated by his side.

“They already know I have a base. After all, I’ve kept the remains of my ship and the Kree ship I destroyed hidden from their sight.” Cerion reasoned, eyeing the drone that was floating by his side.

“Very well.” Optima replied.  

The door of the cryo chamber unlocked with a hiss and slid upwards, releasing a rush of cold air.

“Bruce?”

“All vitals look normal. Brain activity, blood pressure, and body temperature are picking up. His body seems to be recovering fast.” Bruce reported without looking up from the datapad in his hand.

The panel on which the cryo bed resided straightened and folded outwards until it rearranged itself into a bed.

Cerion came near the cryo bed while Optima and Bruce stood on the other side of the bed.

“Introduce light stimuli.” Bruce said.

Optima flashed a concentrated beam of light from the hovering drone directly into Captain Rogers's closed eyes. As Optima increased the beam's Intensity, they could see movement in the eyes and a subtle shift in facial muscles.

“Captain Rogers. Please wake up.”

 Cerion began tapping the man’s cheek and forehead until his guest’s eyes slowly opened.

“He is waking up. Optima monitor his vitals.”

“Where… am I?” Captain Rogers whispered while his eyes darted from one side to the other.

“You are in a remote facility in the Pacific, Captain. My name is Cerion Vex. Now, please tell me if you feel any discomfort.”

He helped the Captain sit up on the bed and patiently waited for the man to regain his bearings.

“I…I crashed the plane. How did I…?” Captain Rogers shook his head.

“You went in the ice, Captain. I fished you out from the ice once I found the remains of the crashed Nazi aircraft.” Cerion explained while Optima gave the man a warm blanket.

“What is that?” Captain Rogers asked, blinking rapidly at the drone offering him the blanket.

“My name is Optima. I’m an artificial intelligence created by lord Vex to help manage his affairs.”

Optima might as well have spoken in gobbledegook because Captain Rogers stared incomprehensibly at Optima.

“Optima is a machine with programmable intelligence.” Cerion explained.

He didn’t think that’d be a reasonable explanation, but the Captain just nodded dumbly.

“I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that my whole life.” Captain Rogers looked gobsmacked and stared at the drone with wide eyes.

“Most haven’t. Is anything bothering you? Can you hear me properly? How's your eyesight?”

“No. I… I'm fine.” Captain Rogers muttered, looking around at the base in confusion.

“Just one thing, though. What happened with the war?” Captain Rogers asked.

“Perhaps that'd be a topic of discussion for later.” Bruce suggested, looking worriedly at Cerion.

“No. Captain Rogers is a military officer. He has the fortitude to handle the truth.” Cerion disagreed.

“Please, follow me.”

Cerion led the Captain away from the med bay and towards the island's sandy beaches. Along the way, he slowly breaks the truth of what happened after the Captain went under ice.

****

Cerion eyed Steve Rogers out of the corner of his eyes as they drove into the airfield. The man had gone silent once he had explained the current situation to the Captain.

“You, okay? If you want, I can offer you my ranch in San Felix. SHIELD or the government won't bother you while you spend some time in peace,” Cerion said.

“No. I'm fine. It's just… I had plans.” Captain Rogers said, morosely staring outside the car.

“As someone who failed spectacularly in plans, let me give you some advice, Captain Rogers. The past is the past. No matter how much you wish, you can’t change it. So, I hope that you focus on the present and see the good it offers.”

“I know.” Captain Rogers nodded. “It’s just…not that easy.”

“Nothing ever worth doing is easy, Captain.”

Cerion pulled his car to a stop near a hanger. He could see several black SUVs parked with Director Fury standing up front. He also noted that Maria and Agent Coulson were flanking the SHIELD director. Cutting the engine's power, Cerion stepped out of his now silent Camaro.

“Director Fury. Agent Coulson. Maria. I present to you, Captain Rogers.” Cerion said with a flourish.

Cerion noticed Coulson standing a little straight with his head held high as Captain Rogers walked around the car and came before them. He shared an amused smile with Maria, who also noticed Coulson’s sudden sharp posture.

“Captain Rogers, welcome back to the real world.” Agent Coulson said, shaking hands with the super soldier. “I hope you’re comfortable.”  

“I went into ice, and half a century passed in the blink of an eye. People and food have changed, and we even have aliens living amongst us.” Captain Rogers nodded awkwardly at Aerion. “I don’t know whether I’m dreaming or not.”

“This is as real as it gets, Captain. SHIELD was created from the SSR after the Allies' victory in 1950. By then, the SSR had stopped functioning, as there was no HYDRA left by 1945.” said Director Fury.

Cerion saw Fury’s one good eye jump to him as he paused before setting his eye back on the super soldier.

“We were founded by Howard Stark, Chester Philips, and Peggy Carter. They always said it was your selfless actions and honourable conduct that inspired them to build SHIELD. So, in their name and in the name of all those good people who fought for a better future, I welcome you, Captain Rogers.”

Some rounds of introductions followed, and after that, a SHIELD medical team immediately started to look after the Captain for any damages.    

“This is unnecessary. I made sure he was in top health after waking him from cryo sleep,” said Cerion, watching Captain Rogers get poked at by the medics.

“We like to be thorough. Given the recent revelations, I like nothing to be left to chance,” said Fury.

“Speaking of which, where are you with that pest problem?” Cerion asked tentatively, mindful of the people in the base.

“We’re handling it.” Fury said shortly with an undertone of disinterest in pursuing this line of conversation.

“I hope you don’t dally long, Director. Time is of the essence.” Cerion said.

He wanted to stick around the base to see what SHIELD intended to do with Captain Rogers. But he had a board meeting to attend, and he needed to prepare for this one because there was a proposal on the floor about expansion overseas into Japan. From there, he hoped to spread into the wider Asian market to get the ball rolling. His hydrogen engine had garnered a lot of attention from Japan, an economic giant in Asia that imported too much of its energy. If they could rapidly switch over to clean energy, that’d open a new industry, generating new jobs and wealth while freeing up the oil money.

Local opposition to nuclear energy also existed because of its safety issues and other historical reasons. He saw no problem using nuclear energy as a springboard to wean off coal and other fossil fuels for mass energy production. It solved much of the world’s energy crisis in the short term, even though some of the older reactors posed a security risk.

But hydrogen would suit Earth’s automobile industry’s energy needs. If smartly used, it could even power the needs of island nations. They’d get self-sustainability with hydrogen power generation, and he foresaw the Pacific islands finally getting the boot off their collective necks. Spreading business in Europe was easy, but Asia was another game. It was the most popular continent, and if he wanted to make the world switch to greener energy, he needed the Asian markets, as most of the automobile industry was interconnected.

So, he was looking for trusted partners to facilitate his company’s transition into the Asian market.

****

Cerion was high in the air, flying in a chartered flight. Most of his company staff for this meeting were already in Tokyo, laying the groundwork for the meeting. He was only held back thus far because of SHIELD and their insistence on getting their grubby hands on Steve Rogers. He had no doubt they were already studying the extracted blood from the super soldier to improve upon the current super soldier serum in their possession.

“Sir, these are the merger packages the board discussed.” John Blum said, handing him a dossier.

He nodded absently, noting that he needed to convert everything into digital files as quickly as possible. The physical files were a nuisance. Unfortunately, not everyone was keen on entering the digital age. His board was one such example, resisting the total digitalisation of the company’s structure.

“These are the dossiers you requested about the market performance, cash flow, assets, equity, outstanding liabilities…”

Cerion speed-read the files one after the other, listening for concise explanations from his assistant. Although there were no plans to merge with any Japanese automobile giant, they were considering their options. Some South Korean companies were also in talks with them about further expansion or even straight-up technology transfer.

Some board members were interested in solo expansion, but some called for solo expansion in Europe while pursuing a different strategy in Asia and Africa. Cerion also leaned towards the latter opinion of seeking a local partner. He had asked some analysts and industry specialists to formulate a report on the viability of going solo into other continents. The European market was not alien to their company as they were already in the process of expanding into the EU.

But Asia was a far more complicated market, with several established auto giants dominating the market. The market there was also hawkish on new technology, far more than in Europe or the Americas. Therefore, a local partner already entrenched in the market was preferable. Asian customers valued trust and reputation, while a standard Western customer had a proclivity towards new products and especially new technology.

Seeing something

“John, I want the data on…” Cerion blinked, and in the next moment, his plane exploded.

Cerion could only watch in stunned disbelief as the plane and everyone around him were consumed by flames and shattered by the shockwave of the explosion. When he became aware of the explosion, he immediately pulled John to his side and tried to shield the man with his body.

But multiple explosions and shockwaves soon wracked the plane from multiple sides, and he could only helplessly watch as his assistant was blown to bits before he could put up a shield. His half-formed shield collapsed as he watched the upper body of his assistant burn and blown away while the lower half remained intact under his energy shield.

As fire and smoke surrounded Cerion, he could only feel a cold numbness as his eyes traced the blown remains of the air hostess and the two pilots mixed in with the shattered plain as it fell into the Pacific Ocean. Cerion floated high in the sky as he stared in horror at the half-burnt remains of the plain and the people he was travelling with. He allowed the energy shield to collapse and let his assistant's lower torso fall into the sea.

More plasma bolts impacted his body from different sides, and Cerion stayed floating in the sky, taking all those shots. Slowly but surely, rage started to flood into his veins. Any tears he wanted to shed for the poor souls he could not save were burned away as his eyes lit up with power upon finding cloaked ships around him.

He counted five ships firing all their weapons at him to take him apart. But he was now exerting the full power of a Kryptonian. The senses he had suppressed to mingle normally with the humans, as were his physical prowess, were now unrestrained. The cloak generators surrounding the five ships could no longer evade his eyes or ears.

Cerion rocketed straight towards one of the ships, and with full power, he punched it. The ship cracked open like an egg while the shattered remains rocketed straight up. Twin blasts of pale blue beams blasted out of his eyes, incinerating the pilots inside as he carved them up.

“Vibranium.” he snarled, noticing the slight resistance the metal put forth against his attack.

Cerion pressed the dial on his watch, and the vibranium nanites covered his body in a metallic suit. He didn’t care one whit about why the Wakandan military was attacking him. Taking a deep breath, he blew ice breath on two ships and encased them in a huge block of ice. The ships covered in ice fell into the sea below with their engines powering down.

Suddenly, his senses alerted him of an object flying straight towards him. He moved aside and caught a spear made of vibranium in his left hand. Without looking back, he threw it back, and he could hear the spear pierce straight through a woman’s beating heart. He knew the exact moment her heart stopped beating while the spear punched through her heart and proceeded to strike another ship’s engine.

He watched dispassionately as the ship went down into the sea with its power cut off. When the soldiers inside tried to jump out of the ship, he met them with concentrated blasts of blueish plasma. Three decapitated heads fell into the sea, and Cerion turned his attention to the last remaining ship. He saw the Black Panther standing near the corpse of the woman he had speared to death.

He felt no mercy as he floated to the level of the Black Panther with his head held high.

“Okoye.” the Black Panther whispered in grief.

The Wakandan Prince let out a bellow of rage and jumped towards Cerion with his sharp claws.

To Cerion, the Blank Panther moved at a snail’s pace, unlike the Hulk. In that fight, he had to hold back a lot as hurting Bruce Banner was not his intent. However, such considerations weren’t factored into the current situation.

Therefore, he led the assault with twin beams of concentrated blue plasma that slammed into the Vibranium suit of the Black Panther. The Wakandan prince was slammed into the surface of the last remaining ship. He could hear the man struggle and scream as the plasma started to burn the Vibranium away and slowly cut in. The suit deflected bits and pieces of energy, but the searing heat of his power could not be completely held off, even by the strongest metal on Earth, indefinitely.  

Abruptly cutting off the plasma beams, Cerion surged forward and violently slammed into the ship. The ship with Black Panther slammed into the Pacific unceremoniously, beaten and unable to maintain a defence or an attack.

As he floated next to the fallen prince of Wakanda, he was tempted to summon his spear, skewer the heir to the Wakandan throne against the ship, and leave him for dead. But he held back that urge because he wasn’t just interested in the hand that struck his people down but also the brains behind this assault.

With that in mind, Cerion punched the Wakandan prince in the face. The vibranium mask could only take so much force, and the Black Panther fell unconscious.

“Optima, are you there?” he spoke into the transmitter of his suit after he calmed down.

“Yes, Lord Vex.” his trusted AI chimed.

“Send the Dauntless to my location with a salvage crew. I want no trace of the Wakandan ships or their people left in this area.” Cerion said before his eyes trailed to the unconscious form of the Black Panther, “Prepare a cryo prison as well. We have several hostile prisoners to hold.”

“It’ll be done. The Dauntless is en route. ETA three minutes.” said Optima.

*****

“We’re still recovering your plane’s black box and other parts. For now, we have everything under control. Are you sure there is nothing else you can share about what happened?” Maria asked from the comms.

“Unfortunately, no. One moment, everything was fine, and the next, the whole plane exploded. I can tell you the explosion happened from the pilot’s cockpit, but other than that, I’m afraid I’ve got nothing useful.” Cerion said as he watched the drones deconstruct the salvaged ships to their base elements.

Only the ships destroyed in battle were being pulled apart by the drones. He had salvaged two intact ships from the crash site from the frozen block of ice. From those two ships, he took four prisoners. For the moment, they were kept in a cell in Koron. The Kree holding cells were old and not up to his standards, but they could hold the Wakandans for now.

But an enhanced warrior like T’Challa was another matter.

“Keep me in the loop if you find anything. My people will shortly make a statement to the press. I assume you already have agents in the field on that.”

“Yes. We’re in touch with your people.” Maria said, “We’ll get to the bottom of this and handle the situation. Take care, Cerion.”

“You too, Maria.”

Cerion cut off the connection and turned back to the Wakandan Prince, who was held back by the drones' restraints.

“So, are you planning to say anything, or are you content to keep your silence?” Cerion asked coldly.

T’Challa remained stubborn and kept his mouth shut.

“Very well. As you will.” Cerion nodded at the drones.

The long tongues of metallic vines dragged the struggling Wakandan prince into a simple grey-coloured board on the floor.

“For the crimes of murder and assassination attempt, I sentence you to life imprisonment pending diplomatic overtures from Wakanda. Until then, enjoy a long sleep, T’Challa of Wakanda.” Cerion declared.

A foggy white gel grew out of the grey board, encapturing the Black Panther, who was stripped of all his fancy vibranium suit and weapons. Once the process was complete, the drones opened a panel on the wall, showing a larger cryo hold inside. The frozen T’Challa was dumped into the cryo hold, and the drones restored the panel.

“Maybe we should’ve questioned him more thoroughly. We could use our methods.” Vincent Burrows suggested, tagging along with him as they moved to the cell where four other Wakandan prisoners were held.

Cerion looked at the former CIA operative from the corner of his eyes.

“You mean use torture?” Cerion shook his head, “No. I have a cleaner method of extracting valuable information without harming the prisoners. Besides, information revealed from torture may not necessarily be true. My method is better.”

“Hmm… I’m curious to see what your method of intelligence extraction entails.” Vincent said airily.

“You’re welcome to tag along.”

A few minutes later, they were standing in a lab with a Wakandan soldier strapped to a chair. The soldier remained stubbornly silent, but Cerion was hardly bothered.

“I got the opportunity to study the inner workings of the Eternals closely. I designed this device as a failsafe to recalibrate their systems if something happened to them. But when I built it, I never envisioned other uses, but now…”

The white chair moved on its own, and two metallic strips were pressed against the temples of the Wakandan soldier. The metallic strips lit up with a green light.

“Begin extraction.”

A series of screens popped up, with clear images and sounds depicting memories of the Wakandan soldier strapped to the chair.

“Now, that’s a hoot.” Vincent commented, “This chair can read minds?”

“It can extract memories without harming the subject. So, verifiable intelligence without harming the subject.”

“Well, boss. I stand corrected.” said Vincent, his grin turning into a smirk as the former CIA agent looked at the Wakandan prisoner strapped to the chair, “So, what next?”

“We study their defences and prepare. You have the command, Agent Burrows.”