"Do not be afraid, little one."
The voice was not a sound. It was a presence, a chorus of whispers and echoes that resonated not in Edward's ears but directly within the core of his consciousness. It was a voice that was both ancient and immediate, holding the weight of eons and the sharpness of the present moment.
"I think," the voice continued, its tone devoid of gender or any discernible human emotion, "that you are keenly aware of your current physical predicament."
Standing in the gray, silent landscape of his own mind, Edward slowly nodded. He remembered the agony, the feeling of his body being torn apart and remade into something monstrous. He had felt his life slipping away, a final surrender to the cold-hearted monsters in lab coats. Then, just as darkness was about to claim him, a new power had flooded his system—a power that beat back the brink of death and brought him to this strange, ethereal place, face-to-face with an unseen god.
"Great existence," Edward said, his voice raw with a resignation that had been his only companion for years. "Am I going to die?"
"Yes," the voice stated, with no pity or malice. It was a simple statement of fact. "Your body is a shattered vessel. But I can offer you a fire. A flame to burn away your despair and turn it into a righteous, all-consuming fury. I can give you the revenge you crave."
A spark ignited in Edward's soul, a feeling he thought long dead: hope. Vengeance. The faces of his tormentors flashed in his mind—the sterile smiles, the clinical detachment as they subjected him and others to unimaginable horrors. It was all because of them, because of Vought, that he was here.
"I accept," Edward breathed, his voice trembling with newfound fervor. "Great one, I am willing to accept your blessing. I will pay any price."
A phantom chuckle seemed to ripple through the gray void. "Very good. I will bestow upon you a magnificent power. You will be a supernova, brilliant and terrible… and just as fleeting. You will learn to burn your own flesh, your memories, your very soul as fuel for your rage. The price is total oblivion. But oh, what a beautiful, fleeting spectacle your vengeance will be… for me."
Edward threw his head back and laughed. It was not a sound of joy, but of manic, unhinged liberation. The laughter of a man with nothing left to lose, who had just been handed the divine sword he needed to smite his demons. He was already dead. What was oblivion compared to the chance to drag his tormentors into the abyss with him?
In the physical world, Edward's eyes snapped open. They were no longer just human eyes; they glowed with a faint, golden light, the unmistakable mark of the Void's touch. A concussive blast of raw energy erupted from his body, cracking the reinforced flooring beneath the steel table and sending a shockwave through the chamber.
As Edward acted, Marcus remained a silent observer, calmly multitasking. While the drama of vengeance unfolded, he was deep within the minds of the panicking supe-scientists. Their terror was a psychic storm, but for Marcus, it was just noise. He filtered through it with cold efficiency, extracting every byte of data, every memory related to their secret project. He saw it all: the sterile autopsy rooms, the glint of scalpels under harsh lights, a human brain being weighed on a digital scale, and detached notes on "synaptic degradation post-transmutation." It was through this bloody, relentless process of dissecting their failures that they had achieved their success.
Marcus now had the complete blueprint. This was no mere enhancement serum like the one used on Shockwave's team. That was designed to simply amplify existing abilities. This new formula, this Compound V 2.0 derived from Ryan Butcher's unique genetics, was a transmutation serum. It could fundamentally rewrite a supe's powers, granting them entirely new ones, as it had with Edward. From super-strength to organic metal.
Having absorbed all he needed, Marcus turned his full attention back to the show.
Edward rose from the shattered table, the metal restraints snapping like twigs. He filled his lungs and let out a roar of pure, condensed hatred.
"DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!"
The sound was a weapon. It was not just noise; it was a sonic detonation that shattered every pane of reinforced glass, every monitor, every lightbulb in the massive laboratory. In their containment cells down the hall, the other test subjects were jolted from their comatose states. Through the cracked glass of their prisons, they saw one of their own, a fellow victim, transformed into an avenging angel of terrifying might. It was a moment of stark terror and wild, impossible hope.
The supe-researchers recoiled, their faces a mixture of fear and predatory analysis. "The subject has mutated beyond predictable parameters! Subdue him! I want him on a slab for immediate dissection!" the bald man commanded, his arm already morphing into hardened bark.
But Edward was no longer a subject. He was a weapon.
With a sudden step, he moved with an impossible, glitch-like speed, a side effect of the Void's power corrupting his personal space-time. One moment he was by the table, the next he was face-to-face with a researcher whose power was enhanced durability. The man smirked, bracing for a simple punch.
The smirk vanished as Edward's fist, wreathed in golden energy, slammed into his outstretched arm. There was no satisfying crunch of bone. The researcher's arm simply ceased to exist, disintegrating into a cloud of red mist and atomized matter.
The supe's scream of shock was cut short as Edward's other hand shot out, grabbing him by the throat. "This is for all of us," Edward snarled. With a single, brutal twist, he tore the researcher in half at the torso.
Warm blood splattered across Edward's face and chest. The sensation was shocking, electric. The constant, searing pain of the Void's fire consuming him from within seemed to lessen, replaced by the intoxicating rush of retribution. The screams of his tormentors were a balm to his burning soul. This was what it felt like to be alive, even as he was actively dying.
He dropped the two halves of the body and brought his foot down with contemptuous finality, crushing the man's head like an overripe melon. The screaming stopped.
"Next," Edward growled, turning his glowing eyes to another researcher.
A manic, pained grin stretched across his face. "Hehehe... it hurts so much," he giggled, the sound utterly unhinged. "Can you help me? Can you help me make the pain go away?"
Before they could react, he dissolved into a flicker of static and shadow, reappearing instantly behind a powerful telekinetic. Edward's arms, now the color and texture of dark iron, wrapped around the man in a crushing bear hug.
"Let me give you a hug!" he roared.
The telekinetic cried out as a shimmering blue field of force flared around him, the only thing preventing Edward's metal arms from snapping his spine. The air crackled, and the sound of grinding metal filled the room as Edward squeezed, his raw, burning power pitted against the researcher's desperate, focused will. The blue shield flickered and cracked under the strain, and the man's eyes bulged, knowing he was only seconds from being pulped.
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