Marvel's Villainous Gacha 51 (Patreon)

“Yes, Nat. I promise, I’ll stay in and play the damsel in distress, cooking for you while you keep the world safe,” he said.

“It’s no joking matter. Take it seriously, please. I know you can keep yourself safe, but you just revealed your healing on a wide scale. Everyone will be after you.”

He chuckled. Overprotective Natasha was fun. “Look. I promise. Just make sure to keep an eye on others, particularly Mary Jane and Jessica. I don’t want anyone taking them hostage to force me.”

“I promise,” she said. “Now, I have to go.”

“Be careful,” he asked, sent her a kiss, and ended the call, a smile on his face.

Admittedly, he had been ready to retire his Professor Azure identity temporarily after the battle. He knew that revealing the Sutherlands as well as thousands of powered exoskeletons would alarm the governments, forcing him to abandon his sea bases.

He didn’t expect gratitude from the government. He wasn’t that stupid.

The sea bases were relatively hidden, but not hidden enough to avoid dedicated research conducted by the full might of the government. He was ready to save the critical resources and abandon the bases … luckily, the Diamond Ticket he received for defending ‘his city’ against an alien invasion solved that particular problem in a way he hadn’t expected.

[Gate Creation]

{Epic Ability: Allows you to create semi-permanent gates that you can teleport through, to create a gate through a location you have to be either incredibly familiar with the location or have been to it. To set a gate you need to focus for 1 minute. You can have up to 10 gates that exist at a time, you can improve this limit as you get stronger.}

With that, he could easily turn his house arrest into a productive retreat and move his bases in the middle of nowhere, no longer concerned about the travel time.

Comparatively, his other rewards were trickier. The silver ticket gave him an item that worked nicely with his healing and purification abilities.

[Divine Crucifix]

{Rare Item: A holy cross crucifix blessed by a divine spirit, being in its presence immensely weakens any unholy and dark being and instantly kills weaker ones. Any holy or light ability channeled through it is increased in potency.}

Meanwhile, the last ticket was … interesting.

[Your Majesty]

{Elite Trait: You have the blood of royalty inside of you, you have more charisma than the average person and it is easier to assert yourself as a figure of authority in people's minds. If you are responsible for someone, they will view you with more respect and authority.}

It would have been so useful if he had ambitions in that direction. Unfortunately, he did not. He wanted to stay in the background as much as possible and enjoy his life. His latest trait was the opposite.

Maybe he could pair it with another identity, but he had no intention of doing so without a really compelling reason. He adjusted his home protection system to trick SHIELD’s observation teams, and moved down.

He had a lot of stuff to move.

&&&

Just like that, a month had passed after the Battle of New York.

Michael had a smile as he worked in his new base, which was right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, three miles deep underwater. Having favors to call meant that he was able to stay at his home, supposedly under house arrest.

And, if the Shadow Blade suddenly started going around the city more, stealing leftover alien tech … it had nothing to do with Michael Wren, the unfortunate healer under effective house arrest because of sudden fame.

During that long month, he had established six different bases of three continents, with the Ocean Base being the biggest one.

Teleportation gates made his life much easier, connecting the bases in a way that was completely undetectable to others, allowing him to specialize his bases; purchasing raw materials, processing facilities, and most importantly, the factory.

One that was constantly producing Sutherland robots.

The alien invasion had changed things, especially since the world’s reaction seemed to be underestimating the threat. No real military buildup, no sudden revitalized space program, nothing.

Well, not fully nothing. SHIELD had several projects in progress, but he had hacked them, and saw that it was essentially six Helicarriers, better armored and actually armed, but still practically worthless against any real alien threat.

Apparently, he was the only one who was taking the alien threat seriously.

Morons.

“At least the alien invasion opened a lot of avenues,” he muttered. Chitauri came from a completely new tech base, including alloys, computational principles, energy generation and storage … everything.

A wealth of information. It was why everyone from two-bit villains to governments raided the leftovers, but as Professor Azure, he was able to take the most. Combined with his talents and skills, he finished deciphering them and implemented the tech to his bases and his weapons while the other organizations were still having meetings about how to understand Chitauri tech.

A month after the battle, had seven main bases, each connected by Gates.

The first base was the Manhattan one. He left that mostly untouched, though he had buried the original elevator, leaving it accessible only by teleportation.

He had established a new base under the Appalachian Mountains, using an underground cave. That base, he turned into a storage for weapons, strictly for deployment for anything that threatened America while keeping his teleportation a secret.

He didn’t want to, but it was better than the alternative.

The third base was under the Swiss Alps, the fourth was under the Sahara, and the fifth was an empty volcanic island in Pacific, each similar his Appalachian base, mostly for deployment, though he used his Saharan and Pacific bases for resource acquisition as well.

He had the sixth gate at an underwater station, two hundred miles offshore. It wasn’t as hidden as the other ones because he framed it as the official base of Professor Azure. It housed some of his production base, while he also used to deploy his submarines and drones, which included some underwater mining operations for raw materials.

Then, his masterpiece, the seventh one, the one that was buried in the depths of the Atlantic, where he had his real energy protection, his supercomputers, everything. Meanwhile, the eighth one was in his apartment, allowing him to return whenever he had a real visitor.

For the first time, Michael felt secure. Truly secure.

The only issue was that, while his real bases were secure, his fake ones were in trouble.

The supposed neutrality between him and SHIELD factions had gone when the security council ordered them to take Professor Azure down, something the United Nations was keen on as well.

Luckily, he had enough resources to fake a cat-and-mouse journey with many bases along the shore. He arranged some useless purchases. Some of those purchases had been caught by SHIELD or other villains and intercepted; the others reached his fake bases safely.

In a month, he dealt with fifteen different attacks, which would have cost him a lot of time if most of those defenses hadn’t worked automatically. He killed no one, lost only fake stockpiles and production facilities that reduced Professor Azure’s threat rating.

Just as he had planned.

Things were going nicely, which was why he took the call when Coulson called. “Michael, I need a favor,” Coulson said. A good thing he answered, because underneath Phil’s controlled, professional voice, he caught an intense hint of worry. Worse, he broke protocol, which he only did when he was worried.

"Personal or organizational?"

“Personal. One of my team is hurt. Potentially deadly. We’re going to a SHIELD base, but their treatment methods for an injury like this are … not preferable. I want a backup option.”

“Fine. Give me the address. I’ll take my own transportation,” he said.

“It’s advised to take the official—“

“You know my answer, Coulson. Let’s not waste time,” he said. “Just send me the coordinates, and I’ll be there,” he said. He received a location in Maryland.

He had made sure to reinforce his helicopter, his favors allowing him to keep the modified device despite the battle between ‘Professor Azure’ and SHIELD.

As he flew, he checked the records. Luckily, the fake battle with SHIELD gave him many opportunities to get better credentials, which he used to hack quite a bit of their database and decipher it.

From there, he learned that Coulson was running a team. Small, independent of larger bureaucracy, and quite elegant. They even had their own mobile base, a modified plane, codename Bus.

The team identities were harder to reach, but mostly because Phil was doing the smart thing and keeping the details relatively secret. However, SHIELD was too complicated for it to really work.

The team was mostly run of the mill. Agent Grant Ward, a specialist in infiltration and combat. Agent Leo Fitz, an engineer, with technical credentials impressive for his age. Agent Jemma Simmons, a biochemist, with some impressive published works.

Two members were interesting enough to catch his interest. One was Agent Melinda May, a specialist agent, capable across many hings from tactical to technical, with a focus on combat and infiltration. As any experienced agent, her past read like a horror story. She wasn’t as good as Natasha … but then, no one really was. The fact that he needed to use Natasha as a benchmark was impressive enough.

The other interesting figure was someone called Skye, merely tagged as a hacker that previously belonged to a group called Rising Tide, whose digital skills were reportedly prodigious, yet with no background attached.

Phil was finally acting on his own rather than trusting SHIELD fully. “Good for him,” he said with a chuckle.

He chuckled even as he continued to travel, though when he caught up with the Bus, they were just rising, with some kind of explosion still shaking what seemed to be an underground base, according to the reading.

“This is the Healer, permission to come aboard,” he called from the radio.

“Welcome. We need immediate assistance. Can you land through the gate while we hover?”

“Affirmative,” he said, and led it through the open cargo ramp. When he stepped out, he finally saw Melinda May, wearing a standard SHIELD suit, but it looked good on her. “Where’s the patient?” he asked.

“Follow me,” Melinda said.

He did. Melinda moved with the efficient economy of an experienced fighter. Michael followed, his healing abilities already slotted, ready to address the situation.

The team was gathered around the bed, where Skye was lying, her life signs struggling. “Alright, the healer is here. Tell me what’s wrong,” he said.

"Two gunshot wounds, untreated for a long time, causing cascading organ failure," Coulson said, his voice clipped. “We used an emergency drug of unknown origin, but it’s reacting weirdly.”

"Stand back," he said, even as he raised his hand, his gold healing flames covering his hand. However, he frowned, because Skye felt different … very, very different.

More importantly, whatever difference she had, it was something she shared with whatever medicine that was injected, which was helping her to recover.

Even without his help, she would have been fine after a few weeks, maybe even a few days, but he still used his flames to hasten her healing, even hitting her with Purification to clean the remaining drug, not that it mattered.

Whatever effect it seemed to have on her, it was permanent.

It was interesting enough that he wanted to stay a few days longer.

“Alright, the first treatment is over, and she’s recovering well enough that there’s no life risk,” he said as Skye’s life signs stabilized, but she stayed sleeping. “However, her situation is complicated, so I want to stay for another day. A few more treatments will resolve it.”

Phil nodded. “Thank you, Michael. I … It’s appreciated.”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “It has been a while since we last met. How about a drink?” he asked. He also gave him a pointed glare.

“Sure,” Phil said, and looked at the team. “Continue observing Skye, while I thank our healer.”

With that, they walked away, but he was able to use their distraction to brush a tiny sample from the needle that they had used to inject the medicine. Not much, but enough for his purposes.

Phil led him to a small office near the cockpit, his private space considering the personal items on the desk. Vintage memorabilia, a framed Captain America trading card, a collection of objects that Michael identified as mementos from cases Coulson had cared about.

“A good way to spend government money,” he said.

Phil nodded. “There are many challenges working as a spy, but budget is not one of them.”

“Except for the suits,” he teased.

“Hey, my suits are cool.”

Michael chuckled. “No, Phil, they are not. They are off-the-rack, ugly stuff. No wonder you’re struggling to find a date.”

“Not everyone is as lucky as you when it comes to the ladies,” Phil responded.

He smirked, then deliberately let it turn back to serious. “So, tell me, exactly what was in that medicine you gave her? It was weird enough to resist my healing.”

Phil paused. “An experimental drug.”

“An experimental alien drug,” he responded. “And, not Chitauri. That, I’m sure.”

Phil paused. “I can neither confirm nor deny—“

He took a deep, pointed breath. “Phil. I can identify energies. I can sense that whatever is in that drug, it did not come from anything from Earth. It felt different, but not in a way Chitauri felt.”

Phil paused for a while before he sighed. “Alright. I don’t know much. I only know that it comes from a blue alien.”

“Not much to go on,” he said.

“There was a body in the facility, one that has been destroyed due to a self-destruct sequence. That’s all I know.”

Michael sighed. “No wonder the government is not reacting to aliens like I expected. It looks like the key decision-makers already knew.”

Phil matched his expression. “It looks that way.”

“Anything else descriptive about the alien?”

Phil described, and he memorized, but there wasn’t much he could do. SHIELD had many secrets, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Even now, he wasn’t ready to hack their core facilities.

A total war was not something he was ready for.

“Anything else you can tell me?”

“Not much. Fury kept it secret even from SHIELD. We have been led there due to some circumstantial evidence.”

“Any clue on how SHIELD got the body?"

“I don't know. All I know is that the facility is old. At least years, maybe even longer.”

Michael sighed. It was just like SHIELD to treat the existence of aliens as spy business rather than taking real precautions. “And, any idea why Skye is not reacting to the drug in a way any other human would react?”

Phil’s frustrated sigh was real. “I don’t know. What I know about the drug is very limited, but the reports suggest that she should have had a much worse reaction. It should have saved her life, but with some horrible side effects. She doesn’t show it.”

“Any idea why?”

Phil sighed. “This is top secret.”

“Phil. You brought me in as a healer when you had no other hope. Meaning, you trust me. Now, give me the information I need to finish healing her properly.”

“Fine. Don’t reveal it, even to Natasha,” Phil said. He nodded. “Skye is a 0-8-4. It’s a designation that identifies her as an anomaly, but we have no idea why.”

“Compartmentalization is inconvenient when it happens to you, right?” he asked.

“From time to time,” Phil responded.

“Now, tell me, why did you delay calling me until it was too late?”

Phil sighed. “I tried, but reaching to you is complicated at the moment. Calling you directly makes you a target as well. You’re a person of interest. Getting a miracle drug from a hidden facility was less complicated … until it wasn’t.”

“You didn’t realize it was an alien drug,” he asked. Phil nodded. Michael frowned. “Can you tell me exactly what happened?”

Phil explained everything, from the injury to the hunt for the miracle healing drug, occasionally mentioning a mysterious enemy called Clairvoyant, who was supposed to be able to read minds.

He was glad for his multiple traits, as even if Phil’s mysterious enemy could actually read minds he didn’t need to worry about it.

“This was a setup, wasn’t it?” Phil asked once he had finished the story, realizing halfway that everything lined up too well. “The Clairvoyant needed the drug for some reason, and I led him to it.”

He decided trying to mince words weren’t needed. “It looks that way. Apparently, your isolated operation is not as isolated as you think. Any way to reach Fury and ask him for information.”

Phil shook his head. “No. I tried to reach him, but… He’s hard to find when he doesn’t want to be found. Especially after … well.”

“Aliens invaded New York, and our side tried to nuke the city.”

That didn’t help Phil’s mood. He waved his hand. “That’s why I have this operation as independent.”

“Any clue how deep that infiltration goes?” he asked.

“We know it’s high level, enough to feed the Security Council false information and make them use a nuke.”

He chuckled. “And, you wonder why I don’t trust SHIELD as far as I could throw.”

Phil smiled. It was a small, genuine smile. “I have to admit, your paranoia is proving to be more accurate than I expected.” He sighed. “How long do you need to cure Skye?”

“Don’t tell me you’re bored with my presence already?”

Phil chuckled. “On the contrary. It’s good to have a friend, but it’s clear that we’re being targeted. The longer you stay here, the more danger you’ll be.”

He smirked. He could cure Skye in a few minutes, but that was nowhere near enough to unravel the mystery of the second alien race. “Not long. Two or three days at most.”

“Welcome to the Bus, then. Try not to burn the walls.”

“No warning about not seducing your team?”

Phil sighed playfully. “Would that help?”

“No way in hell,” he responded, smiling at Phil’s hapless annoyance.

He missed the guy, including his ill-fitting suits.