Note: there's an explanation of whatever is happening in this chapter at the end.
********
Reid gathered everything he needed from Pegasus Base's data. Still, he had no intention of building the faster-than-light engine just yet.
It might sound like an incredible achievement, but for humanity at its current stage, it had no real value.
Unlike the Skrulls, humans didn't need a faster-than-light engine to escape the Kree Empire's influence. They hadn't even fully explored the solar system. The engine's usefulness was minimal, and there was no urgent need to develop it now.
Moreover, with Earth's current technology, the only feasible way to construct such an engine involves the Space Stone. Using a cosmic artifact capable of opening portals anywhere in the universe as an engine's power source was, to say the least, extravagant.
Reid closed the files and calmly put them back in place.
A base staff member, who had been waiting for some time, immediately stepped forward.
"Well? Mr. Pennyworth, does Wendy Lawson's research contain anything critical?"
Reid nodded slightly. Opening the space age was inevitable, but only under one condition—he had to be the one leading it. Only after establishing enough bases in space would he allow the United States, or any other country, to get involved.
For now, he needed an excuse to keep the U.S. government at bay.
Luckily, Mar-Vell had already provided him with one.
"I have to admit, Wendy Lawson was a genius," Reid said, his voice carrying just the right amount of admiration. "If she hadn't lost her mind, she might have actually finished this project."
A "madwoman"—that was how the government saw Wendy Lawson. He simply took advantage of that perception.
"It's clear that she left behind key information in her personal journal, but the way she recorded it was through some kind of special code that only she could understand. Now that she's gone, that knowledge is lost. Without it, we're looking at a setback of about fifteen years."
"Fifteen years…"
The staff member frowned, disappointed. But when he noticed the faint smile on Reid's face, he realized there was more to the story.
"But that doesn't mean it was all for nothing," Reid continued smoothly. "While we can't fully recreate Dr. Lawson's vision, this data will still allow LexCorp to make significant technological advancements. The U.S. will gain a much more efficient way to explore space. And in the grand scheme of things, fifteen years isn't much."
"Really? That's… actually great news!"
Even if Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S couldn't be fully revived, as long as something useful came from it, they wouldn't have to keep guarding a billion-dollar secret forever.
"That said, it's getting late," Reid said, glancing at the time. "And I won't be heading back to New York tonight. Does the base have a place to rest? If so, could you show me to it?"
"Of course. Right this way."
Led by the staff member, Reid was taken to a simple but comfortable room. His fingerprint data was also registered in the base's system, allowing him unrestricted access to most areas, except for a few high-security zones.
...
'Looks like the story is unfolding.'
As he lay on the bed, Reid's eyes glowed faintly. Using Martian Manhunter's X-ray vision, he gazed into space.
A massive warship, glowing with a faint purple light, hovered just beyond Earth's orbit, skillfully avoiding detection by all human satellites.
"System, duplicate."
As soon as Reid gave the command, his body began to shift, splitting in two. One remained on the bed, seamlessly taking his place, while the other reverted to Martian Manhunter's true form.
The next moment, using his shapeshifting ability, 'Martian Manhunter' morphed back into Reid's original appearance.
This was Reid's strategy—maintaining his connections with superhumans while keeping his public identity as an ordinary man.
This version of Reid couldn't use Martian Manhunter's abilities, but he still retained all the abilities of his previously completed roles. That meant, except for Martian Manhunter's incomplete powers due to only reaching 30% progress, he possessed the full capabilities of Alfred, Joker, and Lex Luthor.
With this lineup, if he added Batman in the future, this version of Reid would essentially become the perfect human.
Leaving his otherself behind at the military base, 'Martian Manhunter' phased into intangibility, turned invisible, and flew into space.
Not far from the Skrull warship, he stopped and used telepathy to observe what was happening inside.
Just as he expected, Carol was single-handedly fighting everyone aboard the Skrull ship.
Even the physically stronger Skrulls were no match for her once she unleashed her photon pulses, taking them down with a single blast.
In the end, Carol's energy outburst tore through the ship from the inside. She and every still-mobile Skrull escaped in emergency pods, heading toward the western United States for a crash landing.
'Martian Manhunter' didn't rush back to Earth to greet Carol. Instead, he turned his attention to the heavily damaged Skrull warship, on the brink of exploding.
'If I act now…'
Through his earlier telepathic scan, he had already learned the Skrull language and their technology.
From their perspective, stopping the explosion was nearly impossible. Even if there was a way, there wasn't enough time to execute the necessary steps before the ship was destroyed.
But 'Martian Manhunter' was different. With his abilities, saving this warship was entirely within his reach.
The first thing he did was invade the minds of the remaining Skrulls aboard. In an instant, he wiped their consciousness clean, reducing them to mindless husks.
Then, he entered the ship and began putting out the fires.
Although his super breath wasn't as powerful as Superman's, it was more than enough to generate strong gusts to extinguish the flames.
With his phasing ability, he bypassed physical barriers and repaired the ship's core circuits, undoing the damage at its source.
Finally, the explosion was averted. The Skrull warship—filled with invaluable technology—was now his.
'Now, I just need to hide it.'
With that thought, 'Martain Manhunter' activated the Skrull warship's cloaking technology, rendering it invisible to all detection.
Then, he maneuvered the Skrull warship past every satellite's detection and quietly submerged it into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
Just like that, without anyone noticing, he had claimed a ship filled with advanced alien technology.
**
**
**
Both the split version of Reid is him, but to keep things clear and avoid unnecessary confusion, I'll use "Reid" when he's acting as himself or doesn't have a clone.
When he creates a clone using a role-playing card, I'll format the cloned identity with single quotation marks (e.g., 'Character Name'). Once the role-playing mission is complete and they become separate, independent individuals, the quotation marks will be removed.
**
**
**
Thank you for reading! If you'd like access to extra chapters and want to support my work, you can visit my P@treon:
P@treon/SilverShark769
Your support means a lot, thank you!