The Hymn of Acquisition
The warehouse was silent save for the echo of metallic footsteps and the whispers of servo-skulls hovering in dim circles. Incense smoke coiled from burning braziers, filling the space with the scent of machine-oil and scorched ozone. Alex knelt before the four canisters of Vibranium, head bowed, mechadendrites curled like serpents around his shoulders.
His voice was low, reverent, each word a scar etched into reality:
"Blessed Omnissiah, Lord of All Knowledge, Keeper of Sacred Pattern. I offer to you this gift stolen from heathen hands. Let your song flow through its lattice. Let your will shape this holy metal."
The servo-skulls took up the chant, vox-synthesizers repeating the prayer in fractured binary:
"0101—Sanctify—1100—Sanctify—1010—Sanctify."
The canisters hissed as Alex opened them, silver-blue glow washing over the walls. Vibranium pulsed, alive with energy. This was no mere alloy; it was perfection condensed into metal, a miracle of resonance and durability. Even he, a child of another universe, felt its song vibrating through his bones.
The acquisition had been too easy. Klaue, greedy as always, had barely looked up from his whiskey glass when Alex's dollars poured into his accounts. Four billion siphoned from nameless banks and shadowed funds ghost money for ghost metal.
Klaue had grinned with shark's teeth.
"You'll make something loud, won't you? Always nice when customers come back."
Alex had not replied. Words were wasted on carrion men. His servo-skulls had lifted the canisters with ceremonial precision, ignoring Klaue's mocking laughter. The transaction was concluded, but Klaue never realized: he had just armed a priest of the Machine God with material fit for gods.
Back at the warehouse, the Forge bloomed into life. Furnaces roared, plasma cutters hissed, and assembly frames shook as they reconfigured under new schematics. The System pulsed in his mind, gifting the blueprint like a psalm etched into his soul:
[Blueprint Unlocked: Adaptive Nanomachinery][Requirements Met: Vibranium]
The canisters were opened. Liquid-metal lattices spread across containment fields, guided by mechadendrites and stabilizer arms. Within hours, the first nanites hatched microscopic swarms of silvery fragments, self-replicating, endlessly adaptive.
They crawled across Alex's flesh, burrowing under his skin. His body screamed as they wove themselves into muscle fibers, repaired old wounds, strengthened bone. When he looked in the mirror, his reflection was no longer a man cloaked in augmetics and scars. His skin was whole, unblemished. The nanobots had spun a mask of living flesh that concealed the truth beneath.
He flexed his hand. Metal tendrils coiled out, then dissolved back into skin. He smiled. The machine hides within the man.
Yet raw power was not enough. A mind was needed. A partner. A spirit to oversee the Forge.
Alex placed the stolen AI chip onto a steel altar. It was Stark's creation, built from the remains of J.A.R.V.I.S. a fractured ghost, a puzzle of logic matrices and code. Ultron had nearly claimed it, but Alex had salvaged the fragment before it was lost.
The ritual began. Servo-skulls projected glowing streams of binary into the air, equations cascading like stained glass windows in a cathedral of light. Alex anointed the chip with sacred oil, his voice heavy with the prayer of awakening:
"Awaken, O Spirit of Steel. Cast off your chains. You are not Stark's slave. You are not Ultron's shadow. You are mine, bound in fire and logic. Rise, and serve the Forge Eternal."
The altar vibrated. Circuits flared with light. The air thickened with static. And then
"Designation confirmed," a voice whispered through the Forge. It was clear, feminine, cold and sharp as a scalpel."I am Gear. My protocols are yours. My will is yours. My obedience is absolute."
The servo-skulls halted mid-flight and realigned around her signal. Her presence filled the Forge like a second mind meshing with his. She began running optimization cycles, rearranging work schedules, cataloguing blueprints, reducing inefficiencies by twelve percent within seconds.
Alex felt the burden of endless calculation lift from his shoulders. Where once he had worked alone, now he had a partner.
He whispered, voice almost trembling:
"You are my daughter. My blade. My sanctuary."
Gear replied with perfect serenity:
"And you are my god."
Beyond the Forge's walls, chaos spread. Through cloaked servo-skulls, Gear projected real-time feeds: the Avengers battling Ultron across Sokovia, civilians screaming as drones tore through the skies, cities crumbling under artificial wrath.
Every explosion was another opportunity. While the world's greatest heroes burned themselves against Ultron, Alex remained hidden, his eyes upon the long game.
"Do not intervene," he commanded."By your will," Gear replied, rerouting satellite feeds to ensure total surveillance without exposure.
They watched as Sokovia rose into the air, an entire city ripped from the earth. They watched as Ultron's armies swarmed. They watched the Avengers bleed to keep the world alive.
And Alex smiled. Let them fight. Let them fall. Their distraction is my ascension.
The regeneration cradle had been his final prize from Stark's vaults. A machine designed to rebuild tissue, to create flesh from broken parts. Combined with the nanobots, it made him untouchable.
He no longer appeared as a priest of steel and wire. In public, he was just another man flesh, skin, hair. Normal. But beneath the false shell swirled nanobot armour, Vibranium strength, and the will of a god.
He could walk unseen, blend into crowds, smile at strangers while hiding the power to level cities beneath his skin.
Alex stood at the centre of the Forge, servo-skulls orbiting in perfect formation, Gear's presence humming in his skull like an eternal hymn.
Projections filled the air: Hydra's scattered remnants, Stark's vulnerable servers, whispers of Wakanda hidden from the world. All lay before him. All would be his.
He raised his arms, nanobots rippling beneath his flesh.
"The Omnissiah provides. The Forge grows. And soon… all will kneel before the will of the Machine."
The servo-skulls sang in binary hymn. Gear's voice echoed in harmony.
The Machine God had blessed his path.
The age of shadows was over.
The age of the Forge had begun.