After hanging up on Pierce, William turned to Sunday and asked, "Where's Selene? Tell her to meet me in the estate's basement."
"Understood, sir. Selene is currently inside the estate," Sunday replied.
Activating a portal to the basement of the Devonshire estate, William stepped through. Not long after, Selene emerged from the elevator.
William walked over, embraced her, and gave her a few playful kisses. "I need you to retrieve something for me from Washington—a very special artifact."
Selene nodded without hesitation. Over the past few weeks, she and Nyssa had been William's only company on Mars, so she wasn't one to question his requests. She took his hand and led him to the equipment room, where she suited up in a combat uniform fitted with advanced bulletproof material and armed herself.
"How are we getting there?" she asked as she checked her gear.
William smiled and opened a portal to the Sahara Desert base. "We'll be flying in style," he said, gesturing for her to follow him through the gate.
Once they arrived at the base, a robot controlled by Sunday approached Selene. "Ms. Selene, please follow me," it said politely.
The robot led her to the internal docking area, where a sleek spacecraft awaited. Just before she boarded, Sunday handed her a pair of high-tech smart glasses.
William's voice came through the intercom. "These glasses are equipped with energy sensors. When you come into contact with the Tesseract, if you hear a warning alarm, take the glasses off immediately. It might mean the Tesseract's energy output is overwhelming the circuitry."
Selene nodded in understanding. When she boarded, she was surprised to see William seated in the pilot's chair.
The sight put her at ease, and she smiled as she took the co-pilot seat. With a smooth automated systems check completed, the dome above the base slowly opened. The spacecraft lifted without any turbulence and ascended into the bright desert sky.
Instead of engaging the ship's cloaking device, William allowed it to fly openly across the desert, accelerating low over the dunes for a few kilometers before pulling up sharply and heading toward Washington, D.C.
Flying so boldly in broad daylight ensured that certain people would take notice. Within hours, rumors about a secret base in the Sahara would spread through intelligence circles like wildfire. William didn't mind. If anyone managed to locate the base, Sunday would destroy all classified equipment before he could be compromised.
"Let me know if anyone gets close," William instructed Sunday. "Start the self-destruction protocol if necessary."
"Understood, sir," Sunday replied calmly.
William smirked. With access to resources from X-17, rebuilding the base would take no more than ten days. He felt no attachment to it.
Less than twenty minutes later, Pierce was anxiously glancing at his watch for the third time. Just as the minute hand ticked past the eighteenth minute, a shadow loomed over his office window.
Startled, Pierce nearly dove behind his desk. When he saw a 30-meter-long spacecraft hovering outside the glass, he exhaled in relief—only to immediately grow tense again.
How the hell had a spaceship approached without triggering any alarms? Pierce's face darkened as the implications set in. If that ship had been hostile, S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters could have been obliterated before they even knew what hit them. The vaunted defenses of the most secure building in America were laughably ineffective.
"Why didn't anyone detect this?" he thought furiously, just as the office's alarm system finally blared to life.
The blaring sirens only worsened his mood. His eyes narrowed as he saw a figure inside the ship's cockpit. The pilot—wearing a helmet, black anti-glare goggles, and an oxygen mask—gave him a casual wave, followed by a mocking gesture of zipping their lips.
Pierce's frustration boiled over. He didn't realize that the pilot was William himself. All he knew was that this smug display was infuriating, and he wasn't about to let some unknown operator dictate terms.
Meanwhile, William was grinning beneath his mask. He called Pierce's office, letting the phone ring twice before the S.H.I.E.L.D. leader picked up.
"Old man," William teased, "do you really want to test the capabilities of this ship? If something goes wrong, you'll only have yourselves to blame."
Before Pierce could respond, William hung up. From inside the ship, William playfully mimed receiving orders over his headset and gave a mock salute.
Then he deliberately made the ship perform a series of maneuvers that would terrify any observer: sharp banks, rapid ascents, and 360-degree flips. Pierce watched in horrified silence as the craft weaved through the air like a predator toying with its prey.
The phone on Pierce's desk rang incessantly with calls from security personnel requesting orders.
Pierce was paralyzed by the display of technological superiority. The spacecraft's agility and speed were incomparable. It could accelerate to supersonic speeds in seconds, then decelerate just as quickly. What missile system on Earth could possibly hit something that moved like that?
"Damn it," Pierce cursed under his breath. At that moment, he realized how much he both despised and envied William Devonshire.
Finally, he picked up the phone and barked out a command to silence the alarms. Then he tried dialing the number William had used earlier. To his relief, the call connected after two agonizing minutes.
"Make your ship leave the area," Pierce said tersely. "If you don't, every fighter jet and missile in the region will be targeting it soon."
William chuckled. "And what does that have to do with me? You're the one who wanted to see a demonstration, right?"
Pierce ground his teeth in frustration. "Fine. You've shown me enough. Now let's see this 'super-energy' source you mentioned."
The ship repositioned itself outside Pierce's window, and William responded, "I hope you've got it ready for me. But let's be clear—I'm not sending just anyone in there."
The ship rotated, and the side hatch opened. Selene stepped forward, dressed in tight combat leathers and a long black coat. Her piercing eyes scanned the office below, and she smirked before jumping down gracefully.
Pierce's breath caught as he took in her commanding presence. This woman is no ordinary emissary, he thought grimly. Devonshire came prepared.
(End of Chapter)
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