Guns Make Allies

A week later, Aeo and Bruce headed to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters in Washington, D.C., at their invitation.

As he looked at the majestic Triskelion from the movies standing right before him, Aeo couldn't help but feel a stir of excitement.

"Ha, I thought Agent Natasha and the others would be here to welcome me. Am I putting so much pressure on you that you had to send out your biggest trump card, the famous Captain America, even though he hasn't recovered from his injuries?" Aeo mocked. "Hey, big guy, I'm sorry I beat you like a dog that day—"

"Enough!" Bruce shot the boy a helpless look, then apologized to Steven Rogers, whose face had darkened. "He isn't actually bad-tempered. It's just..."

"We were all at fault for the misunderstanding that day..." As one of the superheroes known for his strong sense of justice and perspective, Captain America managed to put up with Aeo's provocation.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Zod..."

"..."

Captain Rogers's magnanimity left Aeo momentarily stunned, and he said awkwardly, "Uh, it's... it's fine."

"If that's settled, let's go." The other woman who had come to welcome them spoke up. "I've heard a lot about you, Mr. Zod. But I wonder, was the little thief in this picture you, too?"

The iPad in the beautiful agent's hands displayed a blurry photo, accidentally captured by a security camera, of the Son of Krypton stealing cash from an ATM with a Smart Terminal as a child. Even the Son of Krypton, whose skin was as thick as Krypton's atmosphere, couldn't help but blush.

"What? Who's that?"

"Nothing. Just some petty thief." Melinda May, a Level Nine agent who had spent a full decade investigating the Son of Krypton's arrival, said with a hint of anger, "Some people may be powerful, but we're not completely helpless in the modern world..."

Aeo shrugged.

Bruce also came back to himself after learning about the boy's past crimes, and gave him a strange look. "Let's not get into that for now. Uh, Agent Melinda, could you show us around S.H.I.E.L.D.? I haven't been here before, either. Your headquarters, I mean..."

Melinda's expression softened, and she managed a faint smile. "Of course, Mr. Bruce Wayne. This way!"

Seeing the enormous difference in how the two men were treated, Aeo and the equally abandoned Captain America looked at each other in silence.

"Okay, should I say Bruce is so irresistible that even the Phoenix Force wants to make a move on him, or feel sorry for us, one nobody and one kid, because nobody loves us? Hey, it's nice to meet you, Captain Rogers."

Perhaps because they'd both been snubbed, Aeo found that he didn't dislike the big guy in front of him as much anymore. He held out his hand. "I'm sorry I hurt you that day!"

Captain America, still wearing a cast, met the boy's gray eyes with his own blue ones. Seeing nothing in them but sincerity and remorse, he paused, then shook Aeo's hand with his one good arm.

"It's fine!"

... ...

In a secret meeting room at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Nick Fury, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, and an unfamiliar middle-aged man welcomed the boy and Bruce.

"This is Phil Coulson, a Level Nine S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and one of our top agents, on the same level as Natasha, Hill, and Agent Melinda. This is Melinda May. You've already met her."

Perhaps because they were on his home turf, the King of Spies had regained his usual pride and confidence.

"The reason we invited you and Bruce Wayne to our headquarters—the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division—is that we all know you are a powerful Superman..."

"Wait." Aeo couldn't help interrupting him. "Superman? Sorry, don't stick such a lame name on me! Just hearing it makes me cringe!"

Nick Fury's face darkened. He gritted his teeth, though he couldn't imagine how much darker a Black man's face could get. "Then what do you want us to call you? A.O.? Or Mr. Zod?"

The familiar way the Black man addressed him made Aeo pause, as if he'd caught sight of a familiar, beloved figure. His expression softened. "...General."

"What?"

"You can call me General." The boy suddenly lifted his head, his eyes flashing. "That's the responsibility I should bear in my homeland."

"!"

Everyone present felt a jolt. Given how secret and important this meeting was, nothing anyone said was casual; every word carried layers of meaning and context. So when Aeo called himself General, the assembled elites and veteran agents couldn't help imagining all sorts of possibilities. They were deeply shaken.

If you wanted to be a general, you needed an army, at the very least...

Nick Fury's one eye gleamed. He was clearly unsettled, too, but all he said was, "General? All right. If you insist... then, General." He said it in a joking tone, as if that could dispel the gloom inside him.

"General Zod, your arrival has dealt a tremendous shock and challenge to me, my country, and the world. As you know, we've always believed that humans were the only life in the universe. Even as more and more things suspected to be alien weapons have been discovered around the world, none of us had ever seen a real, living alien!"

"Until you showed up!" The King of Spies glared fiercely at Aeo.

Bruce and Rogers both frowned slightly.

"Sorry, I didn't realize this was another declaration of war..." To everyone's surprise, the one who interrupted him was Tony Stark. "Hey, I know you're wary of this—sorry, alien kid—but please, when you can't beat him..."

The billionaire mocked every last person at S.H.I.E.L.D. "That's right, you can't beat him, and he's shown at least a little restraint. So maybe we should watch what we say, too, if we're going to call ourselves civilized... Listen, I don't want to be your cannon fodder again! Not when we already know we can't win..."

Aeo smiled. Iron Man really was a maverick who never cared about other people's feelings. Seeing the ugly looks on Nick Fury and the others, Aeo couldn't help admiring the man who'd been his enemy until recently.

"Looks like," Melinda sneered, "someone's temper has changed quite a bit after getting beaten to a pulp last time. He even knows how to suck up now..."

Nick Fury's expression changed, and just as he was about to smooth things over, Iron Man exploded.

"I'm a scientist, a genius, and a playboy, but I'm not an idiot or a fool. Even if I'm worried about what he might do, I won't keep provoking him like a moron! That's just asking to die. So if you want to die, don't drag me into it!!"

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