Damien Pov-February 20th 2003
Damien could hear Uncle Simon on the phone with the board of directors of the company talking about extending the trip to a Canning Facility in Giza for a performance review because of some discrepancies in the reports of the facility we visited in Jersey total bullshit but it seemed to be working.
Damien thought about how he could understand his uncle now Before he had awakened when his uncle would talk on the phone but now it was similar to hearing a foreign language at least 60 percent would fly over his head but now he understood at least 85 percent and that was growing with each passing day and with it his understanding of the company and his place in it. Though he didn't particularly have any interest in the business side His uncle had repeated the importance of it but he couldn't let the woes of bruce wayne stop him from becoming Batman so he tried to learn.
After he got off he walked into the ship where the other men sat which Damien guessed was supposed to be the mess hall of the ship. It was equally cool as outside and he couldn't help but marvel at the futuristic design. Damien looks at the men at the table studying them. They seemed to have comes to terms with the situation pretty quickly.
Mike was using his radio to inform the others on the security team that they would be taking a few days off, Ike had his face in his hands with a look of despair, Mike and ike had Decided who was going with the Old man By playing rock paper Scissors and Ike had Loss leading to his depressed mood, Damien thought it was the first time he had ever heard him curse.
The Old Man gave him across the table look and he went stiff like a toy soldier. Damien nearly laughed a lung out at the fearful expression. Janus was shooting looks of distrust every few seconds not letting his guard down but he wasn't shooting at anybody so Damien counted it as a win.
"All set there buttercup?" The old man asked Simon. Interrupting the silence.
"Yes" Simon answered ignoring the new nickname though from the annoyance in his tone it bothered him.
"We need to discuss a few things," Simon spoke." while I trust all five of you if we plan to take on a race as powerful as the mogodorians we are going to need certain things to stand a chance, more people, weapons, transportation, safe houses. While we have been able to secure the resources if we are going to have a bunch of regular people interacting with Aliens then we should come up with a system that makes clear boundaries about level of knowledge based on trust."
"We plan to build an organization to rebel against the mogodarions the foundations of which start with you all and the loric" Uncle Simon says gesturing.
"You have just proven that other humans can not be trusted if you truly plan to bring others then you will just expose yourself to the Mogodorians," Janus says in disgust.
"To face a force as powerful as the mogodroians even if we save every single loric and on the planet even with us fighting alongside the loric that is less than 30 people 11 of those children." Simon said "if you want any chance to survive or resurrect lorien then You will need Others." This made Janus contemplate not fully agreeing but not disagreeing.
"Our men will follow us," Mike said. Ike nodded to the statement he trusted them with his life.
"But how do you know that they are trustworthy, you just got proof the mogodorians have infiltrated your government at the highest levels how do you know you can trust anyone," Janus said. Which even Uncle Simon didn't know how to reply too.
"that's where I come in," The old man said." I know a couple of guys who can do some deep dive work for me a bit less legal but trustworthy we could monitor though I wouldn't trust them with all of this." he gestures to his surroundings.
That brought on another argument The guys Alexander wanted to recruit were connections from his old life as a bagman.
While Alexander could do the work himself he would be trying to save one from her fate accessing his old criminal network from his past life seemed like the best choice. They would do the work for him and it was pretty safe since his reputation would make sure that any information gathered was both secure and accurate.
Damien Didn't like it when he heard that plan since it required using criminals since wanted to be a superhero but he justified it by thinking that if it were Batman and he needed to work with Falcone to catch the Joker he'd do it. Damien tried to say as little as possible during the meeting and his silence had almost made them forget he was there.
"How quickly can they get it done?," Simon asks the oldman.
"Thorough? On twenty guys that's a big job kid" The old man size and thinks. "They can get it done in two weeks but it will cost a lot more than the usual rate"
"Money is no issue this is too big to cut corners," Simon Said seriously. He took out a small satchel from his briefcase taking a small a bunch of small metallic emblems and handing to the others.
"what are these?" The old man asks.
"These are a mix of loric and earth tech that I created that can be used for communication," Simon tells everyone. They look intrigued.
"How do you have our technology?" Janus asks abruptly almost like he was accusing him of theft.
"Knowledge of loric technology was part of the gift from the entity," Damien speaks. That makes him go silent not commenting further but not truly accepting.
"We have a flight to catching two days, we were able to secure a safe house in Cairo once we find the loric so once the reports come back we will start recruitment and then convince the loric to come back to New York with us," Simon said closing the issue.
"I do have one other thing to tell you I have already recruited on other person to join our ranks And he is up to date with our plans he will joining our ranks soon enough though no need to be worried we will be meeting him shortly," Simon said. The last part was directed more at Janus since he looked outraged at hearing there was another in on the secret. This surprised Damien he didn't know there was someone else that knew and why hadn't his uncle told him?
"He's in Egypt preparing for our arrival," Simon Said. That is when it clicked for Damien. The only other person was Amon. Amon was SImons childhood best friend Damien had met him several times and while the two men were close they led busy lives so they only saw each other two or three times a year.
Uncle Simon informed the table he had Delegated the search for The Crew Of the Second ship to Amon. Simon had given him a position a month and a half earlier to oversee all of Swift Co.'s Business in Africa as soon as Damien initially told the second ship would be in Egypt. He had a pretty important position in Swift co. and it had ruffled some feathers with the board but Simon handled any backlash pretty smoothly.
Damien's Uncle had Grown Up Traveling along with his Brother and had spent a few years in Cairo where they had become friends amon's father worked for swift co. nearly his entire life. The company had started as a banking company built by Damien's great great grandfather but quickly developed into asset management and then an endless number of subsidiaries from food to clothes to laptops Swift Co. was everywhere And that was what made it so easy for Amon to find the tour group that had tried to scam the crew of the second ship in the book. That meant they had yet to meet their first mog on earth but they were definitely in Cairo so we would have to be very careful.
Damien Pov- February 22nd, 2003
Damien was deep in thought with a blanket covering his head acting as if he was asleep as they flew. He peeked his head out to look around and saw Janus Smiling Like this was the best trip of his life looking forward to seeing his sister. Damien was glad he was able to forget that he was being hunted by a hostile alien race. Then he thought if that was him and It was Uncle Simon who was he thought was dead for a year and it made sense. He turned back around to pretend he was sleeping again and started to plan what he would say to them to convince them to come back to New York.
He wanted to Make The Swift Building completely secure, and maybe one day The Main Headquarters for the loric but first it would have to function as a secret base, Once all the security Guards that worked with them passed inspection and proved to be truly loyal they could limit access for a few floors under Uncle simons new R and D subsidiary, that would make the perfect base of operations plus he could even go further then just helping the loric if he found demigods in trouble it would be the perfect place to hide them.
Damien knew that He couldn't let the grade meet each other or it would break the protection charm. Four and seven had no interactions with the mogs so if He didn't bring them together he could mostly let their stories play out up until the Paradise high school attack Though he had no idea how he'd save Malcolm.
The rest'd have to find them before they make the mistakes that got them caught (or worse). He had already outlined a brief overview of when he could they could save them, Then they'd set them up with new identities and a safehouse with fool-proof evacuation plans if things go sideways at a moment's notice. The only two who that plan would not work for were Number Five and Number Eight seeing how trying to locate him would be nearly impossible since in the book even he didn't know which island he lived on.
Though there might be a chance when he got to Miami that would be after his cepan died of old age and he nearly died of thirst leaving the island. Damien would have to make sure he found him before Ethan wormed his way into fives head. Eight he was powerful and Damien desperately wanted to save him from his future fate including saving his cepan but he had zero idea where to find him until his religious order came into existence and by that time it would be too late to save his cepan still even if Damien could save Eight's cepan that would mean he never meets the man who helped him Devdan and that may not sound like a reason not to help him but devdan helped him find religion and it would mean stealing his religion and way of life away from him and that felt kind of sketchy.
To make sure the grade trusted him He could inform them of what would have happened if He hadn't been there. That might scare them but it would help deter them from making future mistakes. Knowing how bad things were going to if they stayed on their current path would force them to make new ones.
The biggest help in keeping the garde safe and separate would be Lexa. Sure there is the Chimera they could add as an extra layer of security for Swift Tower and the new organization that was forming and there was Ella who was the only other garde that could meet the other garde but Lexa was a tech genius contending with Sandor on loric a while my uncle he was good there was no arguing that lexa was better. Plus she could keep tabs on all the garde.
The only Reason Lexa couldn't single-handedly protect The garde at least from a cybersecurity standpoint in the original world was because of a lack of resources and Spent most of the time trying to find the garde but If she had known where they were and stable living conditions the mogs would never have found a single loric.
"Hey bud," My Uncle Simon Said as he rubbed Damien's arm to wake him up. Damien hadn't noticed he'd gotten off the phone. He had been too deep in thought of the future." we are about to set down."
He sat up Mike was Reading a book. Janus was Looking out the small window in anticipation. Damiens's ears popped as they descended to the tarmac. The 12 hours it took to fly to Giza went by surprisingly quickly.
" We need to get Janus To The Second Ships Crew as fast as we can. We don't Know how long we have until the Mog's find them." Damien said seriously. Uncle Simon Sighed Loudly at his nephew's pushiness.
"Act like a kid, Stop being so Serious," He said while shaking his fist at Damien Emphatically.
As they walked down the air stairs they see Amon Waiting to Greet them. Uncle Simon Yells down to Him in Arabic. They Spend a few seconds joking around. Damien Didn't Understand them since he hadn't studied a word of Arabic but He nodded politely and smiled as if he did Amon turned to damien and starts speaking in English to him acting a bit strangely. Damien wondered what Simon had said about him for him to be acting like that. after a few minutes they left.
Damien Thought Janus's level of excitement couldn't get any higher, but he practically skipped to the car. The short ride to the market was relatively quiet other than Amon and Uncle Simon. During one of the few lulls in their conversation, Damien turned to Uncle Simon. Damien had written down what he was going to say He was Nervous This would be his first high-level negotiation but he had trained with his uncle and he wanted to do this himself this organization was just as much his as it was his uncles and if he wanted to be in charge one day he needed to get out of his uncles shadow. In The back of His Mind doubt lingered 'Am I ready for this? I'm just a kid, but then he countered But I'm not just any kid am I.' then A quote from a movie popped into his head "Time to nut up or shut up". That thought made him chuckle and he decided.
"Janus and I Will head into talking to them alone, You stay with Amon and mike and keep an eye out, " Damien tells Him.
He grimaces at me going in with just Janus but after seeing his nephew's face pauses and then nods his head slowly. If Janus shows up with a man in a suit there is a chance that the loric will think Janus cut a deal for zophie or something. As soon as we get there Janus hops out running toward the small cabin where Amon had tracked them down too. Damien followed closely behind we were only two blocks away so he could still see the car as we stood at the front door. Janus knocks quickly.
"zophie! It's Janus" he says through the door not quite a yell but loud enough that anyone in the small building would hear him. He then speaks in a language that sounds like french but its sounds just off somehow. Damien guessed that it must be loric. The door opens abruptly and Janus Tackles whoever opened up the door in a huge hug.
I walk in after him and look around. Exactly what I hoped to see was a Tanned man with a three-year-old in his arms, a woman who was really tall about 6'3, from what I could see two dogs, and a cat. They hadn't noticed Damien yet they were all too involved in the heart-felt reunion of the long-lost siblings speaking quickly in loric.
The Tall woman finally sees me and tenses a bit. This causes Crayton to notice me then finally Zophie. The cat walks over and lays down on my foot as all eyes turn on me.
"Hi," Damien says a little anxiously.
"This Little one Took saved me from getting caught by the mogs," Janus Says. They all look Shocked.
"they are on earth then?" Crayton asks knowing full well that means they weren't safe. On that positive note, Damien clear my throat.
"My name is Damian Swift Heir to Swift co. I Saved Janus for a project I need his and all of your Help to achieve it" Damien tell them.
"What Project ?" The tall Woman says who I know to be Lexa.
"My uncle and I want to start an organization to support the loric on earth. The Lorien elders Had a prophecy about the earth just like the one about Lorien that foretold its destruction, It said that the chosen Children that represent the elders would escape Lorien's fate and save the earth from the fate that befell Lorien." Damien tell them."I know this because The Entity known as Lorien was displeased about how many of its chosen died unnecessarily and It chose me to smoothen its reawakening, The Entity also Gave me its gift I am the first pure human Garde"
They take a second to process the information. There are looks of incredulity all across the room Except for Janus who already knew about it and instead shoots Damien a look as if to tell him he was doing a good job. Damien guessed he must like him now since he was the reason he was able to reunite with his sister Taking their Silence in stride Damien paused for a moment.
"So what would this Organization require of Us?" Lexa asked with a raised eyebrow. As she gestured to the loric around the room.
"Nothing for now beyond helping us look after the garde and helping to make sure the Mogadorians never find them. Plus I'd be giving you resources and safety from the mogadorians. Since you would be founding members along with a few carefully selected trusted individuals your information would be confidential and I will provide Identities that will stand under any scrutiny."Damien tells them."Right now the Mogs are making deals with governments all over the world offering tech and "enhancements" so that they can hunt the grade but that is only step one after wiping out the garde out they'll use their foothold in the governments to take over the world."
"We need to let the Garde Grow so that They can develop their legacies stop the Mogodorians. This organization will be the cover that buys them time to grow." Damien says pausing slightly for Suspense."That's why we Plan to call it S.H.I.E.L.D."
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