Location: Polaris Biotech – Long Island, New York
Time: 2:43 a.m.
Most buildings sleep at night.
Polaris Biotech didn't.
The lights weren't all on, but there were enough. Keypads glowed softly. Security drones hovered. Heat signatures pulsed behind reinforced walls.
To the outside world, it was a generic pharmaceutical lab focused on neurological research.
To Hydra?
It was a testing site.
And I was going to tear it apart.
---
My HUD flickered to life as I crouched in the bushes just beyond the perimeter fence.
[Scan Activated]
> Motion Sensors: 12
Armed Personnel: 8 (2 Enhanced)
Surveillance Cameras: 6 (Connected to Internal Server)
Building Access Points: 3 (2 locked, 1 underground delivery hatch)
Entry Suggestion: Delivery Hatch – Unmonitored
I nodded. "System, mark all enemy heat signatures."
[Marked.]
Red dots scattered across my vision like a thermal radar.
I pulled my mask on. Black, minimalist. Just enough to hide my face from facial recognition and thermal scans.
Wick's touch.
---
I slithered to the delivery hatch.
Locked, but not alarmed. I used a stolen Hydra decryptor chip—a recent gift from Ivan Markov's bleeding kneecap—and hacked the keypad.
The lock clicked.
I slid inside, landing silently on a metal walkway.
The air inside smelled like bleach and burning copper.
Clean. Sterile. Fake.
Polaris was hiding something.
---
I made my way down a narrow hallway lined with glass.
Through it, I saw rows of cryo-pods.
Inside each: a person. Sleeping. Tubes in arms. Machines monitoring vitals.
They weren't patients.
They were test subjects.
---
[Scan – Subject 01]
> Name: Unknown
Age: ~22
Status: Suspended Animation
Genetic Notes: Human baseline, injected with unstable serum
Codename: "Project Apex"
Likelihood of Survival: 18%
I clenched my jaw.
Hydra had started human experimentation years before Steve Rogers would uncover them.
And they were doing it with Stark tech, gamma DNA, and stolen mutant gene samples.
---
I crept to the central lab.
There, under a domed skylight, stood a glass chamber filled with swirling red mist.
In its center: a human-sized figure suspended in liquid. Wires ran from its body to a terminal. The system called it:
[Target: Phase 1 Subject – "Echo"]
Biological Modifications: Enhanced reflexes, regenerative healing, synthetic muscle layering
Combat Rating: Tier 3.5 (Above Average Super Soldier)
Mental Status: Stabilizing… 74% Synchronicity
Hydra Notes: "Echo will be our answer to Rogers. Field test imminent."
This was their prototype.
I had to end it before it was field-ready.
But the moment I took a step, alarms flared.
BWOOP. BWOOP. BWOOP.
Figures burst from side doors. Two guards. Then four more. All armored, all armed.
And one in the center?
Not human.
[Analyzing...]
> Subject: Unknown Hydra Operative
Codename: "Black Talon"
Status: Enhanced
Mutation: Clawed bone growths, predator vision, partial invisibility
Strength Rating: Tier 4.1
Weakness: Rapid nerve spikes under light
---
He vanished.
Cloaked.
Crap.
---
I fired three rounds at the guards—two hits, one down. Took cover behind a terminal.
Talons screeched across the floor behind me.
I spun and parried with my knife—Wick's instincts kicking in. The blade sparked off his claws.
Fast. Too fast.
"System!" I shouted. "Give me something—anything!"
---
[Emergency Inventory Access]
> Random Pull Available – Risk: 32%
Pull item?
"Yes!"
---
The system glowed.
[Item Drawn: "Bottle of Lemon-Scented Furniture Polish"]
Rarity: "Laughable"
Effect: Unknown.
I stared. "Seriously?"
Black Talon lunged.
I flung the bottle at his face out of desperation.
It shattered.
The chemical hissed.
And he screamed.
Smoke poured from his face like acid had been poured on it.
I blinked.
[Effect Triggered: "Hydra Synthetics – Weak to Organic Cleaning Agents."]
"...You're kidding me."
---
I rushed him. Knife in one hand, pistol in the other.
Slashed across his ribs, fired into his knee.
Talon collapsed, twitching, bones retracting back under skin.
Whatever they'd done to him—it wasn't stable.
"Status?" I whispered.
---
[All guards neutralized.]
[Project Echo Status: Waking]
---
Crap.
The pod hissed open. Steam rose.
Echo stepped out.
He looked like Steve Rogers if you squinted—tall, blond, but with machine lines under his skin and a distant stare.
He tilted his head.
"...Are you Hydra?"
"No."
He blinked.
"Then you're a target."
---
He moved like lightning.
I barely raised my arms before he was on me—fists slamming like jackhammers.
My ribs screamed.
I ducked, rolled, pulled a flash grenade from my belt, and popped it point-blank.
BOOM.
He reeled.
I tackled him into the pod, smashed his head against the metal rim twice.
"System!" I roared. "Scan for weakness!"
---
[Weakness Detected: Neurolink Port – Rear Neck]
Chance of Disabling: 63%
Chance of Death: 0%
Good enough.
I plunged my knife into the port.
Sparks.
Echo collapsed, convulsing.
Then… still.
Breathing.
Alive.
But unconscious.
---
I hacked the central console and uploaded everything to an encrypted drive.
Formulas. Blueprints. Names.
Hydra's future.
Now mine.
I set the charges on the lab's mainframe. Just enough to fry data, not kill anyone.
Wick wouldn't slaughter civilians.
I wasn't Hydra.
---
Ten minutes later, I stood across the street as Polaris Biotech lit up in a muted blaze.
The skyline flickered.
Sirens in the distance.
And my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
Blocked ID.
I answered anyway.
A voice I didn't expect: smooth, professional.
Maria Hill.
"We've been watching you, Victor Wick."
Pause.
"You're not SHIELD. You're not Hydra. So tell me… what are you?"
I hung up.
Not out of fear.
Out of principle.
If SHIELD was calling me directly, I'd already made the board.
---
Back at my safehouse, the system chimed.
[Weekly Sign-In Available]
Sign-In Counter: Week 3
Reward Processing...
Congratulations! You have received: "Character Template – Deathstroke (DC Variant)"
---
I froze.
Deathstroke?
Super-soldier reflexes, healing factor, tactical mind, weapon mastery, and more.
I grinned.
"Things just got interesting."
---