Three years have passed since Robert visited Cecil in prison. It took Cecil three years not only to take control of the prison but also to make it clean and somewhat organised with him as the leader. After three years, Director Radcliffe has come to visit him.
"Why are you here, Radcliffe?" Cecil asks, displeased at seeing the man.
"Do you mind?" Radcliffe asks the giant acting as a bodyguard.
After Cecil gives a nod, the man leaves the room.
"I'm stepping down as GDA director, moving over to a new special projects group."
"I don't care," Cecil says while checking some papers.
"I want you to replace me," Radcliffe reveals.
"No wonder they want you out."
"There were three deaths a week in this place before you got here. Three years later-"
"You have no idea what happened here, for me to make it this way." Cecil interrupts Radcliffe.
"You did exactly what you had to do. You brought order to chaos. Nothing more, nothing less. Sure, a few people had to pay the price, but... the math works out." Radcliffe says.
"You don't know anything."
"You think I wasn't watching? I told you before, I don't waste talent, I fix it. This place was your rehabilitation."
"It was supposed to be my punishment. And you clearly don't know what happened if you believe that."
"It was both. And now, it's over. If you take the job."
"No."
*Sigh*
"I can't force you to see things as they really are. But here's what you still don't understand. You can be the good guy or the guy who saves the world. You can't be both." Radcliffe says and then walks out.
"You're wrong... You don't know the half of it." Cecil says, thinking about a specific person.
In the last three years, he had to be ruthless and cunning a few times. He had to manipulate and kill to get where he was. But what Radcliffe didn't know was that it would have been far, far more difficult and bloody if someone hadn't stood behind the scenes and pulled some strings. And that wasn't Director Radcliffe. That man had his own ambitions, and they weren't what he told everyone else.
"The guy who saves the world, huh? I wonder what he's been up to all these years."
.
In the Reynolds School for Extraordinaries, Robert was currently inside his personal laboratory. Over the course of three years, he hasn't been simply following the usual trot of mediocracy. Not that any part of his life could be described as mediocre, but others might feel exhausted after doing what he does: being a doctor and surgeon in the best hospital in the country, maybe even the world, and the director of a large school, and teaching at the side sometimes. Not, Robert, though.
He used the time he had to understand his own powers, and after a few years, he had completely understood them. He had found out that he was a special existence and that the Essence he had drunk added to that. In his lab, he has been performing tests and experiments on what he has found to be the source of the most extraordinary phenomenon: Smart Atoms.
These atoms are smart because they remember their original state compared to those surrounding them. If you place these Smart Atoms in a harsh environment, after some time, they will remember what it was supposed to do originally, before they were in this new environment, and go back to the way they were. Imagine if you place it on a planet with enormous gravity. This Smart Atom will remember how it was able to move and do work before it was under the gravity and grow accustomed to the high gravity. It reacts that way to remain as it was before. It is like the hardheaded one amongst its atom brethren.
Why was this interesting to Robert?
Because he had found out that he was using his powers unconsciously, to keep his physical body from exploding in a second big bang. That is too much, of course, but somewhat like it. His being, his existence, had so much power and energy that he needed to hold himself together. But what if he could help himself and basically enhance himself even further with these Smart Atoms, so as not to bother about keeping himself together and enveloping the galaxy in an enormous explosion?
The idea was created, and Robert had a way to do this, since he could do it using his powers. But he didn't do it right away. He wanted to create things that would help others first. He used his knowledge about these Smart Atoms and their properties to make a very advanced and high-tech training facility. He took the one they had at Reynolds School for Extraordinaries and renovated it completely.
But not just that. He also used these atoms in the buildings and materials used all around. By doing that, they were essentially unbreakable, and even if there was something hard and powerful enough to break the bonds between the atoms, it would eventually fix itself again. The next step in repairs had arrived, with it a revolution unlike anything the world, the galaxy, or the universe had ever seen. The only problem was that if he did that, he would lose all the revenue he made through his construction company. But thankfully, he wasn't greedy and just interested in making money.
Indestructible clothes or tools to use for crime fighting, and many more ideas popped into Robert's mind. Theoretically, Robert could now also grant people superpowers.
*Knock knock knock*
"Come in."
The door opens, and Rose enters. She is wearing the stylish clothes he gifted her. It was the first batch of clothes he created to test out the new application of Smart Atoms in the clothing industry. And she had loved it ever since, not really willing to wear anything else.
"Mr. Reynolds, am I interrupting something?" she asks.
"Never, Rose. What can I help you with?" Robert says and lays down the things he was holding.
"Mr. Stedman is here and has asked to see you," she says.
"Thank you, Rose. Let's go then." Robert says, and they walk out of the lab and upstairs.
"Have you been creating something new again, Mr. Reynolds?" she asks as they walk.
Rose has refused to call Robert by his first name, or at least has stopped occasionally calling him Dr. Reynolds.
"Indeed. I'm looking at a cream to remove wrinkles." Robert says with a smile, because it is true, but he just wants to see a woman's reaction to this news.
"Oh?"
"Haha. I thought you were going to react more than that. Imagine, when you reach 60 years of age and still look the way you do now. Or at least without wrinkles."
"That would be incredible."
They make it to another building, where Cecil is currently swarmed with children and teenagers, asking him questions. Handling children and teenagers will always be challenging, no matter how tough you think you are.
"Cecil, it seems you got yourself in a pickle there," Robert says.
"Seems so. How do you manage all of them at once?" Cecil asks and takes back the phone from the hands of a smiling young girl.
"With powers. Now, thank you, everyone. If you would please excuse us, I'm sure we'll find something to do for all of you." Robert tells the kids.
"Bye, Mr. Cecil," the same young girl says and runs off.
"Selina," Robert calls, and she stops.
"Yes, Headmaster?" she asks.
"If you will." Robert says and holds out his hand.
"If I will, what?" she asks.
"Don't make me ask twice. Or your trip ends early." Robert says, causing Selina's shoulders to sag and her to look depressed.
She walks up slowly and gives him a phone and a wallet.
"What the-" Cecil exclaims, seeing his stuff.
"Now, off you go. Chop chop." Robert says and watches Selina move through the hall gracefully.
"Here you go, Cecil. No harm done. She likes to play around."
"Play around? If she were older, I might have a use for her." Cecil says.
"I'm afraid that won't happen. Selina's not... from around here." Robert says.
"Like an alien?" Cecil asks.
"No. And stop talking like the director of the GDA with me."
"I AM the director of the GDA, you know that. And that's why I'm here," Cecil says, taking out a tablet and placing it on the table.
"What is it?"
"I met an alien today. I wanted to show it to you and hear what you think. He killed a monster when I met him." Cecil says and starts the video. Robert sees what Cecil saw from a camera on his shirt. Cecil lands with a chopper, right after the man killed the monster.
[Who are you?] the man asks.
He is a tall, broad-shouldered and powerful man with a moustache. He gave off a strong, authoritative presence, which was used in short sentences.
[Cecil Stedman, director of the Global Defence Agency. We run teams of superheroes to protect our planet from whatever dangers might arise. You don't look like you're from around here."]
[I'm from the planet Viltrum. My government sent me here to help protect the people of your world.]
[Huh. They did, did they? What's your name] Cecil asks as he hands the man his hand as a greeting.
The man looks at Cecil's hand and is thinking. Then he reaches for it and follows Cecil's movements.
[You can call me Nolan.]
[Nice to meet you, Nolan. Quite a local name that is. Is it your original one?]
[My name sounds like Nolan in your tongue. So it shall fit.]
[I see. Well, then I would like to welcome you to Earth and hope we will have a fruitful relationship together.]
Cecil turns off the video and looks at Robert.
"It seems the future will be interesting," Robert says.
"Why do you say that?"
"Haha. That's amusing." Robert says.
"What is amusing?" Cecil asks.
"Come now, Cecil. You have been a spy/ government agent for decades now. You know how to lie and manipulate, and you want to tell me that you don't know when someone's clearly lying?"
"So you think that as well, huh? We reviewed the data later and saw that his pupils were dilated and his heart rate was elevated. But since he's not human, we couldn't be sure."
"Well, he was lying. And badly at that."
"What else can you tell me? I would be happy for some input if you have any." Cecil says.
"I can tell you that he didn't lie when he said his government sent him there. But he is not here to help protect our world. Judging from the strength he has shown, and assuming that he's not the strongest or at least the norm in his world, we can assume that it is a physically powerful one, and they have the capabilities to fly to different planets without the need for technology, at least outside the solar system. I'd say he's here as a sleeping agent of a sort. Checking out Earth to see how hard it is to take it over. At least that's the worst-case scenario."
"You believe he's part of a conquering race?" Cecil asks.
"Most likely. But there's good news. If they truly are powerful enough, and we assume that most are as powerful as he is, then we can also say that there is either a chance that what he says is a lie, and he wanted to get away from Viltrum..."
"Or?"
"Or, there are simply not enough of them. Or they are not all as powerful as he is, and they're not certain they can take over Earth if they tried it." Robert says.
"I guess that would make sense."
"You're going to observe him and make him work, to keep his story upright, aren't you?" Robert asks.
"Indeed. You're the only one I have ever met who gives something for nothing in this Universe. Since he said he wants to help, we'll let him help. If he can integrate and is true to his words, who knows... and when push comes to shove, you're still around." Cecil says and stands up.
As the director of the GDA, he has a lot to do, but he still enjoys coming here. He didn't have to get Robert's opinion, and both of them know it, but they hadn't seen each other in a long time, so it was the best Cecil could come up with to meet.
"Next time, just take some time off, and have a coffee with us. No need for a farce, Cecil." Robert says.
"Sigh... I'll think about it. Who knew the world was a big pile of chaos when there's not someone in a red suit saving it?"
"I think the world is doing fine now, that you're there to look after it."
"Heh, we'll see."