Mark of the Multiversal Pretender

*Keyboard typing*

Continuously typing on the keyboard, writing the codes and programs for renewing the database of the A.I, Leo was suddenly interrupted by the chiming of his phone.

*Ding!*

"Hm?" Curious to see who would text him at this time especially since he rarely gives his number to anyone, he takes his phone out and reads the notifications.

"Helen? Why would she text me this early in the morning?" Leo muttered to himself and proceeded to read her message.

<Helen: Leo, I kind of fumbled and Ms. Edna told me that in exchange for your Vibrator? Vibranum was it? She'll make me my superhero suit and become her personal costume designer, she even offered to give me sponsors. All for just a single gram of that material.>

"....What is this girl doing and what is she doing in Edna's home? Didn't I tell her to meet me at the entrance of her gates tomorrow?" Leo's face twitched several times as he replied to her message.

His plan was to 'convince' Edna to place Helen under her care, using some 'methods' to make her agree however Helen went against what he just told her and approached Edna all alone and defenseless from the dwarf devil.

<Leo: Sure, tell her I'll send it personally tomorrow. As for you, in exchange for that gram of Vibranium, don't you think you owe me something?>

<Helen: W-What do you want, then?>

<Leo: Oh don't worry, it's not much. How about I tell you after you're done there, yeah?>

<Helen: O-Okay.>

Finishing their conversation, Leo looked at his work on the screen and sighed before resuming his work. As much as it was painful for him to give a single gram of Vibranium to Edna just because he was too busy to manage Helen in having her suit, but the thought of the advantage of finishing his A.I as early as possible, the pain of giving a gram of the Vibranium disappears.

"Let's go!" Cracking his knuckles and neck, Leo resumed typing on the keyboard.

***

"So? How is it, darling?" After closing her phone, Helen heard Edna's voice from her behind as she turned around.

"He said he'd personally give it to you tomo-" Before Helen could finish her sentence, however, Edna had already interrupted her by excitedly jumping off from her tall chair.

"Well, what are you waiting for, darling, Christmas? Chop chop, let's go to my basement and I'll take your measurements." Without waiting for Helen, Edna's small feet started taking her towards downstairs.

Helen, surprised by how quickly things settled, immediately pocketed her phone and chased after Edna.

In her mind, many questions were formulated such as what is Vibranium and why does Edna seem to value it so much from Leo?

Unfortunately for her, these questions would remain unanswered for now. She could only pray in her heart that Leo wouldn't be too mad at her for being unable to wait for him. As for what she owes Leo, she just hopes he won't be too hard on her.

***

"What did you say?!" Back in the White House where several government officials were having a meeting, the President of the United States of America just slammed his hand on the table after the report from a staff was finished.

"W-We apologize, Mr. President but the security was simply unable to catch this thief. He has the power to change his appearance from adult to child. It was almost impossible to catch him because we weren't prepared. Not to mention, the security was also unable to open fire due to the risk of accidentally shooting the operatives and staff." Reporting such a heavy crime in front of so many government officials almost made the person assigned to report lose his bladder and piss himself.

"Then what happened next? Surely the thief couldn't have escaped through the entrance right?" Everyone's head leaned forward, waiting for the man to deliver the good news.

"U-uh, he disappeared soon after. We assumed it must be some sort of teleportation that needs a condition to activate considering the thief could've just teleported from the start instead of letting him be chased." Afraid to see the looks of dissatisfaction, the staff could only look down on the ground as he heard the President sigh.

"Have you run scans on the man?"

"W-we have, Mr. President but the scans led us to an average office worker named Harvey Miller in Missouri. He was last seen yesterday going home from his work so it's almost impossible for the man to get here from Missouri to Washington unless someone with teleportation powers assisted him."

"How about the child? Did you also run scans on him?" Just when the Mr. President was about to lose his mind, the General of the Army sitting at the table raised a question.

"But General, that's a child. It's impossible to suspec-" The Senate President's brows quivered and was about to retort the General's words when the General interrupted him by repeating his question.

"Did you run the scan or not?" The General cast his glare on the Senate President before crossing his arms, resuming his stare back to the staff reporting.

"W-We did. Our scans resulted in an elementary school child named Buddy Pine from Metroville City which is much farther compared to the man in Missouri. Our lead investigator came to the assumption that the thief must've some kind of appearance copying ability and used it on these two individuals and-"

"Hold that thought, repeat the name?"

"The name of the child, sir?"

"Yes! Of course the child you dimwit!" The General angrily roared at the staff, making everyone sitting at the table look at him in dissatisfaction.

"M-My apologies, sir. The child's name is Buddy Pine." The staff shivered slightly out of fear and quickly answered the question.

"Buddy Pine." The General muttered to himself while squinting his eyes.

"If there's something you got, General now is the best time to share it with us." The President leaned forward and said to the General with a temper.

"The surname of this child, Mr. President. Don't you think it's quite familiar?" The General asked.

"…I believe you got me lost, General. Do you mind clarifying?" The President raised an eyebrow and replied.

"Pine, Mr. President. The surname is the same as the two of our deceased scientists who led the now dismissed Project Xerox 40 years ago."

"You're…talking about those two?" The President's eyes widened upon realization as the General gave everyone who was still confused a smirk as if a counter to their looks of disdains earlier.

"Ehem! Mr. President?" The Senate President, quite embarrassed due to his action that almost led to a dead-end of the investigation, was unable to find himself asking the General for clearance so he settled in asking the President instead.

"Folks. We got a lead. This child might either be the grandson or related to the two ex-scientists who were working on the dismissed Project Xerox 40 years ago. These two scientists' names are Vivian Pine and Frank Pine both of them are married and have a child."

"According to the investigations, those two worked together in accomplishing the goal of Project Xerox only to try to escape with all of their research for reasons unknown until now. So we called several Superheroes to apprehend the two. What happened next was something that went beyond our understanding."

"Frank Pine was the one we caught first only to kill himself by swallowing poison that was attached to his left tooth, leaving the Superheroes to chase Vivian Pine with much more caution than usual." As the President continued his narration, he noticed that everyone was leaning towards him like little children listening to their parents telling a bedtime story.

"However before we knew it, Vivian Pine has implanted a large bomb on her body. Once she got herself cornered, she detonated herself and exploded along with the entire research materials worth billions of dollars."

"…" Once the President finished his words, the entire meeting room turned silent, still busy comprehending his words.

"What is Project Xerox, if you don't mind me asking, Mr. President?" The Senate President asked again.

"…." The President then went silent, as if contemplating about something.

After what seemed like hours of waiting, the President finally came to a decision.

"Gentlemen, whatever you heard or will hear must stay in this room or else you'd be labeled as a traitor to the country, understood?!"

What followed next was the constant nodding of everyone like chickens pecking their heads.

"Project Xerox was just a sub project of a main project. The Project Xerox's goal is to search, duplicate and apply powers from anyone with valuable or worthy powers. We have once already collected 10 worthy superpowers, which was unfortunately destroyed in the explosion along with Vivian Pine." The President shook his head with a somber mood.

"Mr. President?" A fellow politician raised his hand and asked.

"What is it. Mr. Powburn?"

"You said Project Xerox is just a sub-project of a main project. What is the main project, Mr. President?"

"….Project Sentry. Project Sentry is the name of the main project and it has three sub projects namely, Project Xerox, Project Conditioning and Project Flawless Man."

"Project Sentry is a project consisting of implanting several superpowers to a single man whose body would be able to withstand all those Superpowers owing to the Project Flawless Man and in order to avoid betrayal, the Project Conditioning would make sure the said man would be loyal only to America and its operatives."

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[Alternate Title: Project Sentry]

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[Next Chapter: Ch. 125 - ElastiGirl's official debut! [3]]