Tristin floated in silence.
The black around him wasn't empty — it was alive. Breathing. Folding in and out like the lung of a sleeping god.
His body still steamed from the last fight — Kaneki's template had held him together. Barely.
Then the voice returned.
But this time… it wasn't cold.
It was awake.
<< SYSTEM CORE: UNLOCKED >>
<< TEMPLATE PROTOCOL: EVOLVED >>
<< USER STATUS: SURVIVAL CONFIRMED >>
<< INITIATING REWARD SEQUENCE >>
A pulse of white light shivered through the void.
Tristin felt it before he heard it — something pulling at the marrow of his being, rewriting things that had no names yet.
His skin burned. His spine arched.
Not in pain.
In alignment.
<< TEMPLATE: KANEKI >>
STATUS: LOCKED – SHELL PURPOSE COMPLETENOTE: This template was a gift from a Watcher.
Selected to ensure base survival.
It will not evolve further.
The system paused.
Then:
<< YOU PERFORMED WELL >>
<< A NEW TEMPLATE HAS BEEN ASSIGNED >>
<< TEMPLATE: GOJO SATORU — INSTALLED >>
Active Abilities:
– Six Eyes – Lv.1 (1/100)
Effect : Provides 360-degree perception, long-range visual tracking, and the ability to perceive and manipulate energy at a molecular level. Enhances precision, reflex speed, and spatial calculation.
Template Fusion Rate: 1%
When the fusion rate reaches **100%**, this template will be fully integrated into your core.
Upon completion, a **new character template** will be made available for selection.
Previously completed templates remain **permanently accessible**.
<< ABILITY UNLOCKED: "SECOND PULSE" >>
Classification: Passive
Effect: Micro-precognition. You receive flashes of hostile intent, movement, or threat 2–6 seconds before occurrence.
Note: Response speed, not accuracy, determines effectiveness.
<< ABILITY UNLOCKED: "ENERGY SINK" >>Classification: Active
Effect: :Can absorb most forms of energy, but absorption speed and storage capacity are low.
"You are not a mutant.
You are not chosen by nature.
You were selected by something beyond it."
"And they are watching still."
Tristin steps forward, the void peeling back into light
.A ruined landscape unfolds — maybe real, maybe crafted.
His breath fogs.
His body doesn't hurt.
His hands don't shake.
And in the silence between thoughts,
He hears it:
Applause.
Faint.
But there.
Undisclosed S.H.I.E.L.D. Black Site
Nick Fury watched the footage on loop. No sound. Just movement.
The creature — the boy — ripped through the last helicopter and vanished. No portal. No teleport flare. One second he was there, then the frame skipped, and the sky was empty.
He leaned forward, thumb brushing the edge of the monitor.
Maria Hill entered, file under her arm.
"We've confirmed it," she said. "Mutant classification. Every scan before the breach shows a buried X-Gene. No activation signature, no physical manifestation — until today."
Fury didn't look at her. "And now?"
"He's off-grid. Not hidden — gone. Cerebro can't find him. Xavier's gone silent. His last note just said, 'He's not dead.'"
Hill placed the file down on the desk. "Trask wants Sentinel teams mobilized. He's calling it Omega-potential."
Fury finally looked up. "Of course he is."
He stood, slid the file shut with one hand.
"This wasn't a test gone wrong. This was a mistake given time to fester. They strapped a mutant to a table for four years and told themselves it wasn't dangerous because he didn't fight back."
Hill raised an eyebrow. "And now?"
Fury glanced at the frozen image again.
"That boy bled in silence. Now the world gets to hear what that silence sounds like."
He pulled out a phone. Not a standard one. Encrypted, dead signal unless patched into old S.H.I.E.L.D. fallback systems.
"Who are you calling?"
He looked at her.
"People who still remember what it takes to stop something like this before it gets worse."
Fury locked the office door behind him and keyed in the uplink manually.
No satellites
.No middlemen
.Just old wires and older trust.
The line connected.
Three seconds passed.
Then four.
Then: a voice, crisp and alert. No video feed. Just calm intelligence.
"You know I don't appreciate unexpected calls, Nick."
Fury didn't blink. "And I don't make them without a damn good reason."
"So what is it this time?
Fury took a slow breath. "Black site breach. Subject classified mutant. Off-grid. Xavier can't trace him. I lost six choppers. Twenty dead. The last camera feed showed a boy who smiled while wearing half a squad."
There was a brief silence on the other end. Then:
"And you want me to help find him."
"No," Fury said. "Not yet."
"Then what?"
"I want you to build a contingency."
"Containment?"
"If he says no to my offer... if he doesn't want to be an Avenger, or something worse is still buried in him... I need to know we have something ready. Just in case."
Another pause. More thoughtful this time.
"You think he's a threat?"
"I think," Fury said, "he doesn't know what he is yet. But when he figures it out, we better hope he likes our side of the fight."
"And if he doesn't?"
Fury looked at the frozen image still on the monitor — Tristin, cracked mask, red eyes, smiling like a man who'd stopped pretending to be human.
He leaned forward.
"Then I need you to build something that can stop God before He learns to speak."
Westchester Institute. Cerebro Core. 3:14 A.M.
The doors opened with a soft hiss.
Beast entered, datapad in hand, tension visible behind his glasses.
"Professor," he said carefully. "Cerebro's output just spiked. And so did your vitals."
Xavier removed the helmet slowly, his hands steady—but cautious. As if the wrong move might shatter the world.
"It was a psychic event," he said. "Brief. Violent. It vanished almost the moment it formed."
Beast frowned. "I'm seeing chatter already. Not military—civilians. Footage from lower Manhattan. Something… something *clawed* its way through a rooftop. Then disappeared."
Xavier turned toward the main display. Still blank. Still silent.
"They always assumed he was harmless."
Beast tapped his screen. "Subject 016. Codename: 'Oracle.' No recorded mutation. No psionic trace. Containment-level clearance. They classified him as a passive precognitive."
Xavier shook his head. "He wasn't seeing the future, Henry."
Beast looked up. "No?"
"No. That mind wasn't reaching forward. It was trying to escape. Like it couldn't bear to exist in the present moment — like reality itself was something it refused to accept."
He paused, gaze distant.
"And beneath it all — rage. Hunger. Malice. But also fear. The kind of fear that makes you violent just to survive."
Beast's fingers tensed around the datapad. "Charles…"
Xavier turned to face him fully. His voice was steady, but heavy.
"We have to find him. Before he goes any deeper into whatever he's becoming."
"If there's still a part of him that can be guided back toward something human—"
He looked again at the silent Cerebro display.
"—we owe it to him to try."
Beast nodded grimly. "S.H.I.E.L.D. blackout protocols are collapsing. Footage is leaking already — bodies, gunships, survivors screaming about masks and red eyes. They've lost control."
Xavier didn't flinch.
"Can you trace him?" Beast asked.
"No," Xavier answered quietly. "No signature. No echo."
Beast swallowed. "Then he's gone."
Xavier turned away, his voice low and firm.
"Not gone. Just… somewhere I can't follow."
He was quiet for a moment longer.
Then:
"We call ourselves gifted, Henry."
"But this… this wasn't a gift waking up."
"It was something else — waking *in spite* of one."