Location: Manhattan – Night
Time: 11:22 p.m.
Rain again.
It always seemed to rain when things were about to go sideways.
I stood on the rooftop of an abandoned news station, my coat fluttering in the cold wind. The city below buzzed in its usual sleepless rhythm, unaware of the thing Hydra just unleashed onto the streets.
System, scan for quantum residue.
[Activating Witcher Senses…]
My vision shifted—colors dulled, outlines sharpened, and thin trails of glowing energy appeared in the air like ultraviolet veins.
Hydra's new weapon had left a trail.
Burnt ozone. Shattered molecules. Quantum drift.
And one other thing: blood.
Someone had tried to fight back.
They lost.
---
The Geralt of Rivia template was doing more than I expected.
Enhanced senses weren't just visual. I could smell aggression now. Hear lies in someone's breath rate. Taste metal in the air before a weapon was drawn.
The potion kit was another surprise.
I'd brewed a Swallow Elixir—moderate regeneration—and Thunder, which boosted strength and speed for three minutes.
And then there were the Signs.
Simple magic, bound by intent.
My current favorite? Aard—a kinetic blast strong enough to blow back a truck if I focused it right.
---
I followed the energy trail down to 43rd Street, near the Hudson rail yards.
There, in the alley between two warehouses, I found what was left of SHIELD's mobile surveillance drone team.
Burned.
Disintegrated.
One man was still alive. Barely. His suit was half-melted, eyes wide with trauma.
I crouched beside him.
"What did it look like?" I asked.
He gasped. "Not… human. It wore… a face. But it flickered. Like it couldn't decide… what it was. Fast. Silent. It—"
His heart monitor flatlined.
Dead.
But his description told me everything.
Hydra's new quantum assassin was active.
A living mimic, possibly phase-shifting between dimensions.
And worse?
It was hunting me.
---
Location: Stark Tower – Lobby Café
Time: Next Morning, 9:15 a.m.
"You're late."
Tony Stark sipped his espresso like it was fine wine. Dressed in a tailored charcoal suit and a smirk, he didn't look concerned that I'd walked in through a back entrance with three concealed weapons and a sensor cloak.
"Didn't know I was on your clock," I replied, sliding into the seat across from him.
"You're not," he said, tapping his tablet. "But Fury sent me your psych file. Redacted, obviously. Also fake, probably."
I stayed silent.
He grinned.
"You broke into a Hydra base with stealth tech that doesn't exist yet, used fighting techniques I haven't even seen from Rogers, and now you're wearing a heartbeat suppressor more advanced than anything I've built."
He leaned forward.
"So tell me, Wick—who the hell are you?"
---
I eyed the café.
It wasn't bugged.
He made sure of that.
"I'm nobody. Just a guy with a system."
"A what?"
"A system," I repeated. "Like a game. I level up. Earn rewards. Draw powers. Templates from other worlds."
He blinked. Once.
Then he laughed.
"Oh, that's good," Tony said. "You're serious."
"Dead serious."
He considered. Then tapped his arc reactor.
"Alright. Say I believe you. That system of yours—what's it want?"
"No idea," I said honestly. "It doesn't talk. Just updates. Rewards. Missions."
Tony scratched his goatee.
"Well, if you're getting stronger, someone or something benefits from it."
He wasn't wrong.
But I hadn't figured out who or what yet.
He stood up, grabbed his coat.
"I want in."
I raised a brow.
"In?"
"I build tech. You collect freaky powers from alternate universes. Seems like a good match."
He tossed me a flash drive.
"Designs for a quantum-phase detector. If you're hunting Hydra's mimic, you'll need it. Oh, and it pings when you're being watched by something not entirely… from here."
I caught the drive.
He walked off.
And paused.
"One more thing," he said without turning. "If that system ever turns on you—call me."
Then he was gone.
---
Location: Midtown Underground – Hydra Containment Zone Echo-7
Time: That Night, 12:44 a.m.
The mimic was here.
The detector Stark gave me screamed red.
I entered the compound, sword drawn—an energy-forged katana synced to my Geralt template. My HUD dimmed. I drank the Thunder potion. My pulse spiked.
Footsteps echoed from the corridor ahead.
Then silence.
I turned the corner.
And saw myself.
Same face. Same gear. Same weapons.
Only… the eyes were wrong.
Lifeless. Empty.
Like a copy without context.
---
"Clever," I said. "You scan your prey and wear their skin."
It didn't respond.
It charged.
---
I blocked the first strike, but the thing hit hard. Its arm phase-shifted on contact, like hitting me from two timelines at once.
System—Tactical Echo!
[Predicting Moves…]
> First Slash – High
Second – Phase Strike to Left Flank
Third – Intangible Grab from Rear
I rolled under the slash, sidestepped the phase, and triggered Aard at point-blank.
The mimic flew backward, crashing into a server wall, sending sparks and shrapnel everywhere.
It screeched—like a thousand digital voices shrieking at once.
Not human.
Not alive.
Some kind of temporal construct.
---
System—Combat Assist: Moon Knight Stealth + Wick Precision + Geralt Reflex Sync
I blurred forward.
Three shots to the chest. One to the leg. Then I stabbed upward into its jaw with the katana and twisted.
Its phase core overloaded.
It melted into glitching light—and vanished.
Gone.
---
The system chimed.
[Threat Neutralized – Quantum Assassin Eliminated]
Reward: +1 Legendary Draw Token | Template Fusion Unlocked]
I stared at the screen.
Template Fusion.
Now that was interesting.
---
Back at the safehouse, I activated it.
[Fusion Option: Wick + Deathstroke + Geralt = "Ghostblade" Variant]
> Traits:
– Instinctive Combat Adaptation
– Silent Execution
– Magical Resistance
– Reflex Amplification
– Potion Enhancement x2
– Shadow Phase Cloak (Moon Knight Enhanced)
> Result:
Class: Ghostblade Operative
Rank: Ascending-Tier Template
I accepted the fusion.
And felt my body evolve.
Faster. Stronger. Colder.
More precise than Wick. More calculating than Deathstroke. More supernatural than Geralt.
I wasn't just a template anymore.
I was becoming a legend.
---