CHAPTER 108 — ULTRAMARINE VIRAL
In a seemingly normal suburban house
Mindy in her room adjusted the straps of her new suit, the sleek black-and-gold armor hugging her frame with precision. She could feel the weightlessness of its design, the careful balance between protection and mobility. Her father's suit had been delivered alongside hers, identical in bulletproof capability, leaving them effectively impervious to pistols, M4s, and most conventional firearms. Only sniper rifles or heavy weapons could pierce the plating, but short of that, they were untouchable.
Scattered on the table before her lay the rest of her Stark-gifted tools: compact drones no larger than her palm, designed for surveillance and scouting; tactical glasses that synced to the drones, displaying clear overlays of information without clutter; and untraceable phones and laptops. Each item had a clear purpose, Each one capable of assisting them in their fights. But it was the suit, Mindy thought, that was the crown jewel. It guaranteed survival.
Satisfied, she moved to her workstation and powered it on. The familiar glow of her custom interface filled the room, and her fingers danced across the keyboard with practiced ease. She opened her channel: ULTRAMARINE.
Her subscriber count blinked back at her: 100,000. Only one video had been uploaded, yet it had already racked up fifteen million views. Mindy leaned back in her chair, a small smirk tugging at her lips, pride swelling at the sheer numbers.
She scrolled through the footage she had downloaded from the multiversal chat, Gaius's mission to rescue Titus and his men. The video opened at the Oath of Rectitude, showing Gaius in his golden Auramite armor standing before a formation of Ultramarines. The group dispersed, leaving two towering Primaris behind him. The three stepped into a drop pod, their restraints locking them in with precise finality.
Mindy hit play. The pod launched with a sharp woosh, slicing through the red clouds that shrouded the planet below. She enhanced the audio, the metallic shriek of the atmosphere tearing past the pod as it descended like a meteorite. The doors burst open, and Gaius emerged, golden armor gleaming against the crimson haze, flanked by the two Primaris on his left and right. The land sprawled before them like a charnel pit, a wasteland of dead soil and scattered ash.
From the ridges ahead came the cacophony of a hundred voices, screaming with maddened zeal. Chaos cultists surged forward, their weapons clashing and rattling as they advanced. Mindy slowed the clip, emphasizing the moment Gaius lifted his hammer. The ground cracked under the force of his swing, and a shockwave tore forward, hurling cultists backward and scattering weapons into the dust.
The Primaris Marines followed, moving with deadly precision. Fists struck with bone-crushing accuracy, combat knives slid through defenses with surgical precision. Mindy smiled, manipulating the cuts so the viewer's eyes would trace the efficiency and brutality of every motion. Every detail screamed authenticity. Every moment felt real.
The trio reached a yawning abyss. Mindy slowed it again: the two Primaris jumped first, pressing their backs against vertical walls to soften the descent. Gaius followed, using the wall to fall faster, landing beside them with two dull thuds. Without a word, the three formed a tight formation and advanced deeper into the darkness.
Mindy leaned back, satisfied with the final edit. She stretched her arms and clicked Upload. Three minutes of tightly edited footage, full of action and carefully smoothed transitions, was now out in the wild internet.
Almost immediately, the views began climbing. Notifications pinged across her devices. Her grin widened as she leaned closer to the screen. She had expected attention, but not this fast.
Zion, the influencer who had discovered Mindy's first upload, got the alert first.
He paused mid-reaction to another trending video and tapped the notification.
Zion leaned back in his chair, headphones on, eyes locked to the screen. The video began, golden armor gleaming under a crimson sky, the drop pod slicing through the clouds like a meteorite. His jaw dropped instantly.
"No… no way…" he muttered, voice barely above a whisper. His fingers hovered over the keyboard, trembling slightly. "This… this can't be CGI. Look at the lighting… the dust… the, are those actual shockwaves?" Even though he had watched the first video countless times, still, the quality and realism left him in awe, and disbelief. How was this even possible?
He leaned forward, squinting at every detail. Gaius swung his hammer, the ground cracking under the force. The Primaris moved in, precise, deadly, flawless. Zion's eyes widened, and he let out a low whistle, amazed at how real it looked, so detailed and high-quality.
"Is… is this from a movie?!" he shouted, half to himself, half to the empty room. "Why hasn't it been taken down? Why, how is this even online?"
With the video's astonishing quality, if it were from an unreleased movie, it should have been taken down, and the uploader could even be sued. Yet there was no claim, no statement from anyone asserting ownership.
He clicked pause, replayed the landing scene, then rewound. His heart raced as he noticed the smallest details: the way the dirt scattered, the Primaris' armor reflecting the ominous red clouds.
"This… this is insane," he muttered, leaning back and rubbing his eyes. "If this is fake… it's the most realistic fake I've ever seen. And if it's real… holy hell, what the actual hell?!"
After seeing the first video uploaded by ULTRAMARINE before, he had researched everything he could find, any source of the clip, upcoming movies, or related announcements. Yet, despite all his searching, he found nothing.
Since he couldn't find any information, he set it aside, but the thought that the video might actually be real lingered in his mind. He quickly recorded a reaction video and uploaded it across all his social media platforms: YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and more
"Is the uploader 'ULTRAMARINE' for real, a second video?!"
"This video is insane, look at that detail!"
"The CGI must have cost millions, and it looks completely real."
Within minutes, other YouTubers began uploading reaction videos, sharing clips across social media platforms. The spread was exponential. Mindy, watching from her own room, allowed herself a small chuckle.
Tony, in his house, noticed Mindy's second YouTube upload and chuckled, though he had no intention of stopping her, in fact, he wanted to help her stay safe.
"Jarvis," he called quietly from his private office, "keep an eye on ULTRAMARINE. Monitor activity, but don't interfere. Make sure her information stays protected."
"Understood, sir," Jarvis replied with perfect composure.
Meanwhile, across town, Agent Phil Coulson sat in his small office at S.H.I.E.L.D., casually browsing YouTube during a rare quiet moment. He noticed a trending video, the thumbnail caught his attention immediately, Gaius in full golden Auramite armor. The cup of coffee in his hand shook, splashing its contents.
He watched the video, stunned. It was really Gaius, and it was on YouTube. Immediately, he grabbed his other phone, his work line, and called Fury.
"Director Fury," Coulson said, coughing slightly, his tone urgent, "it's… about Gaius. I found a video of him on YouTube."
Fury's voice was sharp. "Take it down as usual." He assumed it was just leaked footage of Gaius in Harlem, back when he had fought the Hulk and the Abomination.
"Sir, it's not from Harlem. Not from any known incident. It's… different. It's from Gaius's world, the future," Coulson continued, barely pausing for breath. "This is not one of the clips Tony provided us. This is something new."
Fury stiffened, the weight of the revelation sinking in. "What the…?! Did Tony upload it?"
"No, sir. Definitely not," Coulson replied. "Tony wouldn't do something like that."
Fury snapped, both furious and bewildered. "Send me that video!" then abruptly ended the call with Coulson.
Coulson sent it immediately. Fury leaned back in his chair, eyes fixed on the screen. The video loaded.
Golden armor. Drop pods. Primaris Marines cutting through crimson skies like a meteorite.
"What the—" Fury muttered under his breath.
He watched without blinking as Gaius's hammer struck the ground, shockwaves rippling outward. The Primaris moved with him, flawless and controlled, blades flashing as chaos forces fell apart around them.
"Is this a leak?" Fury growled. "How is that even possible? Tony's the only one who should have footage like this."
"Did Stark upload this?" Fury muttered, narrowing his eyes.
He shook his head slowly, eyes still locked on the screen. "No. Not Stark."
Tony wouldn't put something like this online. There was no advantage to it. If he wanted attention, he already had more than enough, Iron Man didn't need anonymous channels or cryptic uploads to stay famous. And if this footage was real, releasing it would only create problems, not solve them.
Fury's expression hardened.
"So if it's not Tony," he muttered, "then someone else has access."
That thought bothered him far more than the video itself.
He reached for the secure comm on his desk, tapping it sharply. "Coulson. Now. Trace the uploader. Every server, every IP, every mirror. I don't care how buried it is, I want everything. Now."
The video continued to play on its own, looping. Fury leaned closer, fingers flying over the controls as he paused, rewound, and scrubbed through the frames.
Then the abyss pit scene appeared. The two Primaris leapt first, and Gaius followed, plunging into the dark abyss. they hit the ground with such force that the floor cracked and shuddered. Fury's jaw tightened as he watched.
"…Motherfucker."
He glanced at the channel name.
ULTRAMARINE.
Fury froze. Recognition hit him instantly. "Ultramarine… that's his faction. That's where he's from."
He straightened, already moving, the tension in his shoulders coiling.
"And we have no idea how the hell this got online."
His fist came down hard on the desk, making the chair creak beneath him.
"Find out who uploaded this," Fury continued to order coldly. "This isn't a movie. This isn't a game. And I want answers."
As the footage continued, Fury muttered, more unsettled than he cared to admit, "Why would footage of Gaius end up on YouTube? And who exactly is this uploader…"
Orders were immediate. Investigations began, S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives working across networks to track the channel, monitor IPs, and trace any possible leaks. Every available system scoured the web for connections to the mysterious ULTRAMARINE.
~~~
Mindy stretched, satisfied with her handiwork. The channel notifications continued pinging. Views were skyrocketing. Comments were relentless. Some speculated about CGI. And a few, bold or reckless, speculated it was real, from another world entirely. Mindy allowed herself a faint smile, she had expected curiosity, but this level of chaos surpassed even her wildest expectations.
~~~
Coulson and Fury stayed fixed on the videos, their shock slowly shifting into tense calculation. Fury's finger drummed on the desk. "We need to find out who ULTRAMARINE is… and how they got access to Gaius, from the future, no less."
Coulson nodded, watching the analytics climb in real time. Comments poured in at a rate he had never seen. Shares, reposts, reactions, viral in a way no ordinary video could ever be.
~~~
Tony glanced back at the video, then to Jarvis. "Keep her safe. Keep her hidden. And for the love of everything, don't let Fury or Coulson find out about her, at least, not yet."
J.A.R.V.I.S replied "Confirmed, sir."
~~~
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