Location: London – MI-13 Black Site (Underground Infirmary)
Time: 3:06 a.m.
Pain wasn't new.
But this kind? The kind where your soul felt like it'd gone twelve rounds with a flaming blender while your ribs argued with gravity? That was fresh.
I woke up flat on a medical slab, wired to monitors, IV pumping nanites into my bloodstream. The lights overhead flickered. A familiar smell of burning magic hung in the air.
"Good. You're not dead."
Wong stood over me, sipping tea like nothing happened.
---
[System Notification: Health Restored to 82%]
> Minor Burn Damage: Stabilized
Trait: Hell-Trace (Active)
Ability Unlocked: Ashstep – Short-range teleport via combustion trail (Cooldown: 15 sec)
"You've been out for three hours," Wong continued. "Revenant's in containment. MI-13 has officially labeled this entire event 'a temporal hallucination'."
I sat up, groaning. "Bureaucracy's still undefeated."
Wong handed me a datapad. "While you slept, I analyzed the spike you injected into Revenant. It worked—temporarily. But the pain loop is rebuilding itself."
"Meaning?"
"He's healing. And if he wakes up angry…"
"He will," I muttered. "They always do."
---
[System Analysis: Trait Fusion Suggested]
> Available: Wick Combat Template + Hell-Trace Trait
Resulting Fusion: Ghost Protocol: Ember Variant
— Boosts reflexes during fire-based combat
— Unlocks passive skill: "Burn Memory" (Retain kinetic movement through flame trails)
I authorized the fusion.
Heat surged through me. My muscles twitched. My skin didn't burn—it thrummed with energy.
I stood and clenched my fists. Smoke curled off my fingertips like my body remembered being fire.
---
Elsewhere: MI-13 Holding Cells
Revenant sat in silence.
Chains laced with Uru metal and time warding magic bound him. His helmet cracked and buzzed. But he was awake.
Watching. Listening.
And smiling.
"I warned him," he muttered to no one. "Sovereign's awake now. And we're all just shadows."
---
Back with Victor
Wong and I moved through the hidden levels of MI-13. They didn't trust me—not really—but I'd earned a sliver of temporary alliance after preventing their destruction.
"MI-13 wants you gone in twenty-four hours," Wong said flatly. "They're willing to look the other way for now. But if you breathe too loud…"
"I'll bring my own muzzle."
He didn't laugh. Probably never had.
"Where's Oracle?" I asked.
"Still restrained in Kamar-Taj. But she's muttering strange names in her sleep."
"What kind of names?"
"Yours. And… Stark's."
I frowned.
"Tony Stark?"
Wong nodded.
"And another name. Someone who hasn't been born yet."
---
[System Alert: Future Disruption Detected]
> Incoming Event Chain: STARK INITIATIVE – ALTERED
Probability Spike: 12% deviation from canonical sequence
Trigger Source: Project Omega Interference
The system showed me a glimpse.
A teenage girl in a metal suit. Riri Williams.
A lab explosion. A corrupted arc reactor.
A red wire pulled too soon.
My stomach dropped.
"They're going after the legacy," I said. "Not just the timeline. The idea of Iron Man."
Wong's face paled. "They're unraveling heroes before they exist."
---
System Notice: New Weekly Sign-In Available
> Would you like to sign in?
I activated the sign-in.
[Weekly Sign-In Reward Granted]
🎁 Reward: Symbiote Fragment (Stabilized)
> Description: A piece of Klyntar origin, genetically modified for host compatibility
Bonus: Emotion-linked combat enhancement
Potential Traits: Adaptive Defense, Fear Amplification, Memory Leech
"Great," I muttered. "Now I have Venom Lite in my back pocket."
---
Nightfall – Rooftops of London
I needed air. Clarity. Answers.
And time to test Ashstep.
I stood atop a crumbling rooftop, staring across the glittering city.
One breath.
Then I willed it.
Ashstep.
Fire exploded beneath my boots. My body blurred into smoke—then reformed six meters ahead on another rooftop ledge.
It wasn't just teleportation. It was momentum theft. I kept speed, force, direction. My body remembered every angle and burned it into muscle memory.
In combat? This was a game-changer.
---
[Skill Mastery Unlocked: Ember Vault]
> Passive: Performing Ashstep in mid-air causes a rebound blast that propels the user upward
Combo Potential: Double-tap teleport with redirect
Now I could fly short distances in bursts. Like Ghost Rider meets Nightcrawler—with a dash of John Wick flair.
---
Meanwhile: Project Omega Mobile Site – Arctic Circle
Morrigan stood on a cliff of black ice.
The sky above crackled with a broken aurora. Beside her, Alex activated a crystal prism.
"What's the target?" she asked.
Alex smiled faintly.
"Timeline 199999-A. Target: Wakanda. Goal: Prevent the birth of the Black Panther lineage."
"Kill T'Challa?"
"No," he said. "Kill his great-grandfather."
A portal opened, swirling with red and gold.
Time was no longer a line.
It was prey.
---
Back in London
I got the alert mid-leap.
[System Emergency Beacon: Wakandan Signature Detected – Temporal Contamination Confirmed]
"Of course," I sighed.
Time to burn.
---