Marvel: King of Mythology Chapter 18

Chapter 18: The Perfect Project

I am in a dilemma.


What name do I go with?


It was obviously a waste to not use these powers but I couldn’t just flaunt my face around either.


Who knows, I might offend someone and that might end up being the end of me.


Mythos?


I would rather go with my name than that shit.


And I already went with Nosferatu last night.


Or well…


Should I just go with a different name for each Essence?


I could work, it wasn’t impossible.


Considering I also had a mask, I could quite easily do that.


“You alright?” Gwen asked, bringing me back to the matter at hand.


“Ah, yes.” I said, “Sorry, was just thinking about something.”


She smiled, “Clearly.”


I was at her place, finalizing the project design.


It took quite a lot of research but I finally found something that could work.


“I am surprised you managed to get this material.” I said, “This isn’t an easy material.”


“My uncle is a researcher,” Gwen explained, “It was a bit rare as it is still a very difficult substance to make, but he still managed to get me a bit.”


The substance we were talking about was the most recently developed advanced form of polychloroprene or well, enhanced neoprene. 


Thanks to the recent advancement, the substance can now be molded in any shape or even solidified yet it still retained it's signature properties.


“Do you think this will work?” She asked, looking at my design.


“Theoretically it should.” I said, “But we will only know when we try it.”


My design wasn’t too complex. The more complex something was, the more expensive it was to replicate on a large scale and the more difficult it was to construct.


To make it more practical, I went with a simplistic piston bridge design.


The pistons under the bridge allow it to hold heavy weight without crumbling down. This was already a step towards the shock absorbant bridge that I wanted. 


“Will it hold the same after changing its state?” She asked, but well.


“It will,” I assured her, “That is the whole point of this substance.”


The discovery was that even if the substance is liquified and then solidified, it still holds its properties.


So, even if we add some foreign stuff, be it pebbles or something else to save material as the substance is at its core quite expensive –It will still be able to bear and disperse the shocks.


It should work as a conduit but for shocks. And with a few alignments, instead of dispersing the shock everywhere –It can be made to go down.


And that shock can move the piston as well, instead of simply the weight.


That piston is what will be responsible for then converting the shock into energy.


This will be Gwen’s work.


“This can work for our design,” Gwen smiled, “And this is a genius project for a fair but it will be a nightmare for ones that actually try to build it in a real life scale.”


This made me shrug, “Not our issue. I am an architect, not an engineer. The engineers will figure out the rest.”


Gwen laughed a little, “I feel bad for them.”


I did too, quite a bit. But this is the best they are going to get for a university project.


“To be fair, you just made my work a lot easier by using the piston bridge.” Gwen explained, “Now instead of going through possible designs for energy generation… I can go with a simple turbine and generator design.”


“Like a windmill?” I asked and she nodded.


“More like a dam but instead of water pressure we will be using the pressure from the pistons.” 


This made me stare at her, “Are you sure you are a biochemistry student?”


Because what we did was not that.


She chuckled, “I am still a science student and at times, you have to be flexible.”


She was a genius. Not just in this matter, but she was a genius in general.


“You work on that, I will watch some TV.” I fell to the floor laying on my back.


She shook her head in amusement, “You have quite the eye bags, didn't sleep well?”


I mean there is a reason for that.


This whole week I had barely gotten any rest which is genuinely not good for my physical or mental health.


Makes me wonder how those heroes operate with so little rest.


“Kinda,” I said, “But it's fine now. Nothing to worry about.”


She looked at me for a bit, possibly to see if I was hiding something.


I didn't look at her, instead I acted like I was resting.


“Just… take care,” She said, slowly handing me the remote. “Your health is more important than you think.”


“Worried about me?” I teased, but didn't expect the reply that I got.


“I am,” She said, “So, please take care.”


This was a little surprising. 


But it felt… nice?


Yeah, definitely nice that someone cared about me. There were just too many people that wanted me either dead or wished me with misfortune. So, it was quite refreshing to see that someone actually cared.


“Yeah.” I said, not sure what else to reply with.


To not think about it much, I turned the TV on and well, I wasn’t a fan of it. But I could at least look at the news.


I was wondering if I would see something about last night’s incident.


But I just saw something totally different.


“What is that?” Even Gwen paused to look at the screen, “It looks like…”


“A black demon.” I said, staring at the picture shown on the news.


“There have been reports of a black monstrous being scaring and hurting civilians,” The broadcaster said, “Multiple footages have surfaced showing the feral being hunting innocents.”


My eyes fixated on the monster in question.


None of the pictures or videos were clear.


But one thing was pretty easily visible.


“That looks so scary.” Gwen said, a frown on her face, “Is that real?”


I rarely question the legitimacy of stuff nowadays, everything is just so weird yet real. But this just felt ominous.


“I hope not…” I said, but the evidence was clear.


It was real.


It was a huge black being with white markings all around it.


“The authorities have assigned a curfew at certain zones after nine,” The reporter said, “Till this monster is not caught, everyone is advised to remain cautious.”


Our place wasn’t under curfew but it still felt pretty weird knowing that there was something out there hunting innocents.


I just hope this does not escalate further. But…


Things were never that simple, were they?


…

…


[S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters]


Sitting amidst a bunch of floating holograms, a man with one of his eyes covered with an eyepatch sat wondering.


‘Why did he not bother with Taskmaster?’


This man was Nicholas Joseph Fury, a man with power beyond most would imagine. But his power was not magical or superhuman –it was something else.


“Director Fury,” He saw a woman walking towards him, “I am sorry, but even after looking through every database there is no record of the man that we saw yesterday.”


Besides figuring out Taskmaster’s hirer, Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D was also curious about the person they saw with Spiderman.


“And Spider-Man says that he has no idea about him either. Apparently, the man just helped him against Taskmaster.” The woman explained.


It was confusing. 


It was rare for them to not find any records of people in their database.


They had information about everyone.


“Something doesn't add up.” Fury mused, “It is not possible that we missed a super human. Especially someone capable of taking down Taskmaster.”


But somehow they did and even the man’s face didn't match any records. 


“I can ask for a recheck but I doubt we can find anything.” The woman expressed, “Do you suspect that he is one of… them?”


Fury went deep in thought. It was possible, but if it were they, they wouldn’t risk their identity by appearing in an event like yesterday’s.


But that was an issue that he could handle in due time. For now, there was another issue that was emerging.


“Have you figured what this creature is, Maria?” He asked, making the hologram with the black monster move towards Maria. 


“We have confirmed that its anatomy does not match with anything from this world,” She confirmed his suspicion. “It is most definitely a foreign being, possibly from outer space.”


An alien.


Fury felt his head aching.


‘Those damn aliens are never here for good.’ 


The last time he had to go after an alien, there was an entire civil war. And the other time, while the alien now fights on the side of humans, it has still been a pain for him.


‘Worse of all, he considers himself a god.’


But that wasn’t the issue. The issue was the black alien.


“Try to track it down and find its weaknesses.” Fury ordered, “We cannot let just anyone wreck this place.”


“Yes, sir!”


Fury was going to make sure that everyone was safe, even if it meant burning that alien down.