(A.N: INFO dump incoming!!!)
Orion sat slumped against the cold, metallic wall of the detainment cell, arms crossed and mind wandering.
The faint hum of machinery outside created a monotonous backdrop, rhythmically punctuated by the occasional clang echoing through the dark corridor from the explosions around the Helix Corp Carrier.
After the chaos of the battle and his abrupt capture, boredom clung to him like the grime of the last firefight.
His heart still thudded from the adrenaline from the rush of battle... he recalled the rush he felt from gunning down different chrysalith and chaos.
It had felt exhilarating, a taste of commanding his fate and he knew for sure now that there was no way he would be contented with just staying in an office for the rest of his life.
Yet here, given the current situation and circumstance, he had time to contemplate on the X-Core. He closed his eyes and let his mind drift into the fog of introspection.
What was X-Core, really?
It would fit the usual narrative of high-tech enhancements, something humanity had become all too familiar with since space travel has been a thing and it made perfect sense... however he wasn't very sure if that was it main function.
Thinking about it, classifying X-Core as just a high-tech enhancement didn't make much sense... For instance, he was very sure that humans could achieve similar enhancements in a far simpler ways and from what he could see from their ruins they were absolutely more advanced than humans were.
But this was for later.
What he was really think about was how X-Core communicated his thought to him... at first he thought it was an Artificial Intelligence system connected through neurological implants but know he wasn't so sure.
'AI.'
'No.'
'That wasn't it.'
It was more intimate, more pervasive than simple tech... No.... it was a part of him.
And it didn't take him long to realize what it was... His own subconscious.
The subconscious is the part of your mind that operates outside of your awareness, managing automatic functions and behaviours like breathing or driving a car.
It's like a vast storage for memories, habits and feelings that influences your thoughts and actions without you consciously thinking about it, similar to how a computer runs background programs that are essential for it main function except his took a far more active function.
The HUD that flickered to life at his command, the incoming waves of data, the vital statistics and markers.
As surprising as the thought was, it explained so much.
If the X-Core was his subconscious shaping the reality he perceived, it would explain why information appeared according to his own emotional state and mental clarity. He leaned his head back against the wall, mulling over another realization.
Projectile weapons.
He recalled the instances during combat when he tried to copy a projectile class firearm, but always received an issue with the ammunitions.
He was sure that each attempt to copy a weapon was actually successful, the issue was just the ammunition.
With vivid clarity, he understood it. The black cells, the dark tendrils emerging from his skin was in fact his cells.
When he combined with the X-Core his body had transformed at the cellular level, black cells sprouting like tiny vines to create devices and weapons.
The X-Core was functioning more like a synthetic symbiote.
A nanite influenced existence that inhabited him, merging flesh and technology until they formed an inseparable bond.
Orion cringed at the thought. The process must have fused X-Core to him fundamentally, altering not just how he perceived the world, but how he interacted with it. And that further explained how the HUD works.
His database?
Simple, It was the combination of his brain enhanced by the X-Core and the small databank that came with the X-Core itself although he wasn't very sure if it had any database of it own since all he gained from it was that memory and the name Kord.
That one name that he was sure would haut for a time to come especially since he gave it as his surname. Kord might hold secrets he couldn't yet comprehend, lodged in his mind or maybe even ancient relics waiting to be unearthed. His mouth curled into a slight smirk as he closed his eyes once more, further retreating into meditation.
Back too the brain enhancement, as far as he was concerned, he could remember what he had for breakfast ten years ago and everything he had read and that was a good thing in his books.
What about the data readings?
The way he could perceive the environment around him, detect heart rates, identify nearby life forms... the sensations were heightened. Why?
When X-Core had combined with him, it hadn't only enhanced him physically it had also recalibrated his physical senses, transforming them into something akin to a scanning device, however, only his subconscious had the ability to process the innumerable details his senses collected around him.
It filled him with awe and dread... so many datasets coursing around, with obscure bits slipping through his fingers like grains of sand. He reopened his eyes, reality rushing back in as he surveyed the dull grey confines of the cell.
Movement caught his attention as bright lights flickered from outside the cell. A shadow passed before the portal. He instinctively became alert, preparing himself to react.
The weight of knowledge settled comfortably on his shoulders... a steady reminder of his newfound capabilities. No matter the circumstance, he wouldn't become a victim again.
The door hissed open with an almost theatrical swiftness, and in walked Alara Veyrn, her authoritative presence filling the dim space.