We flew under the radar.
Literally.
Bucky pulled strings. Fake identities. Borrowed jet. No questions asked. The man had black ops down to a science.
Greenland wasn't exactly a vacation spot. Freezing winds. Endless white nothing. Just us, a few crates of gear, and a long trail of decisions we couldn't take back.
The system pinged as we descended over the icy tundra.
[Fragment Site Approaching…]
Scanning…
Subsurface Anomaly Detected
Depth: 1.8 kilometers
Force Activity: Dormant, Contained
Trial Readiness: 64%
Warning: Incomplete memory imprint. Trial may induce identity degradation.
"Neat," I muttered. "This thing wants to eat my mind now."
"You talking to your ghost again?" Bucky asked as we landed near a half-buried station built into the side of a glacial ridge.
"Not a ghost. More like a parasitic game engine that thinks I'm a Force USB drive."
He just looked at me. "You know how insane that sounds, right?"
"Only when I say it out loud."
The station was abandoned.
Frozen over, powered down, and long-forgotten. But the moment I stepped inside, I felt it.
Something humming beneath the ice. Breathing. Watching.
The Force thrummed like a quiet alarm in my skull.
[Trial Site Confirmed: Memory Fragment Theta-1]
Trial Type: Echo Extraction
Core: Subconscious Projection
Host Compatibility: 89%
Warning: Residual imprint traces may affect host's psyche.
"You're stalling," Bucky said.
"I'm assessing risks."
"You blew up a superhuman clone three days ago. This is you playing it safe?"
"I call it character development."
I took a breath.
And triggered the trial.
[Initiating Leviathan Trial: Fragment Theta-1]
The world fell away again—but this time, it didn't go white.
It went black.
A memory rose around me. Mine—but not mine.
I was in a chamber. Warm. Sterile. Monitors lined the walls. Someone—me?—was strapped to a chair.
A voice echoed: "Subject design rejected. Spiritual integration incomplete. Prepare wipe."
A woman stepped into view. Her face was familiar, but I couldn't place it. Blonde. Cold eyes. Lab coat. The HYDRA insignia barely visible on her collar.
I couldn't move. I could only watch.
She leaned close to the bound me. "You're not ready for the Force, little ghost. You don't even know what it is."
Then she touched my forehead.
And everything shattered.
I woke up screaming on the floor of the station.
Bucky had me pinned. "You were convulsing. For six minutes."
I shoved him off. "Good news. I know where the next piece is."
He gave me a long, unimpressed stare. "And the bad news?"
"I think I used to be someone else."
"Someone like Subject Nine?"
"Worse," I muttered. "Someone HYDRA tried to replace."
[Fragment Recovered: Theta-1]
System Memory Partially Unlocked.
Origin Trace: PROJECT PHANTOM / SPIRITUAL HYBRIDIZATION EXPERIMENT
Overseer: Dr. Ingrid Voss
Outcome: Rejection
Subject Terminated — Status: FALSE
[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: Force Sever (Dormant)]
Sever the target's connection to the Force temporarily. Costs extreme energy. Dangerous to untrained users.
[New Trait: Echo Burn]
Prolonged use of system abilities now leaves behind traceable Force residue. Caution advised.
I stood.
The system hummed quietly.
A voice—my own?—whispered in the back of my mind: You are not the first. But you may be the last.
I turned to Bucky.
"Next stop?" he asked.
I nodded. "Next stop: Berlin. There's someone there I need to find. Someone who knew what Project Phantom was really about."
"Are we walking into a trap?"
"Probably."
He cracked his knuckles. "Good. I'm getting bored."
Chapter 9: Shadows in the Glass
Berlin, 2011.
One week after we left Greenland.
Three months after Steve Rogers woke up in the 21st century.
The world didn't know it yet, but everything was about to change.
And we were already knee-deep in the fallout.
Bucky and I had ditched the jet somewhere in Czech airspace. Too many questions. Too many satellites. SHIELD was snooping. Hydra was sniffing around like cockroaches in the walls. And me? I was a walking Force-bomb with a system UI that kept feeding me nightmares and skill trees like it thought I was playing Jedi: Fallen Order on nightmare mode.
"Let me guess," Bucky said as we crossed a quiet Berlin street in civilian clothes. "You feel a disturbance in the Force."
"Yeah," I muttered. "That, and we're being followed."
He didn't even blink. "Two agents. Black SUV. Corner of Eisenstrasse and Fichtestraße. SHIELD?"
"Probably. But not the scary kind."
"Are there any not-scary SHIELD agents?"
"I hear Phil Coulson's nice."
We ducked into a small art gallery near the Neukölln district. Not for the art. For the access tunnel beneath it—mapped out on the file I'd recovered from the Greenland station. Project Phantom had roots in Berlin, and someone here had known Dr. Ingrid Voss.
Or more accurately: they had killed her.
The system pulsed.
[Proximity Alert: Hidden System Cache Nearby]
Origin Signature: HYDRA - Post-War Cell
Estimated Age: 58 Years
Encryption Level: High
Objective: Infiltrate. Extract. Survive.
"I'm starting to hate this game," I muttered.
Bucky raised a brow. "Game?"
"Never mind."
We made our way down the old tunnel—narrow, wet, half-frozen even in summer. About fifty meters in, we found the door.
Old HYDRA steel. Triple-reinforced. Marked with a faded skull emblem.
I reached out through the Force—and winced.
"Something wrong?" Bucky asked.
"It's... locked," I said. "Not physically. Psychically. There's a residual barrier. Something's bound inside."
"I can blast it," he offered.
"No. Let me try."
I focused. Pushed.
The system lit up:
[New Mechanic: Force Lockpicking]
You may expend Force energy to disrupt psychic seals or encrypted relics. Success depends on Willpower and Focus.
[Skill Attempt: Force Lockpicking – Success]
The door creaked open.
Inside was a vault. Dust-choked. Long-forgotten.
And at its center, a stasis pod. Cracked. Empty.
Bucky tensed. "Another clone?"
"No," I said. "Someone worse."
The wall monitor flickered to life. A woman's voice—grainy, digitized.
"This is Director Voss. If you are hearing this, Subject Zero has escaped containment. Protocol [VEIL] has failed. Initiate contact with SHIELD Asset Omega."
Asset Omega?
Bucky turned slowly. "You think that's—"
"Steve Rogers," I finished. "Or someone they assigned to watch him."
The system beeped again:
[Quest Updated: Legacy Threads]
Track Asset Omega
Secure or destroy remaining Phantom nodes
Warning: SHIELD surveillance active
Risk of exposure: HIGH
Outside, the black SUV was gone.
In its place hovered A black quinjet.
And standing across the street—sunglasses, long leather coat, looking like a man who'd bet the planet on a coin flip—was Nick Fury.
And he was smiling at me.
He crossed the street slowly, like he owned it. No gun, no backup, just full Samuel L. Swagger. Except... something was off.
"Mind explaining what you two are doing in a classified HYDRA vault?" he asked. Voice, perfect. Eye-patch, even better. But the Force... didn't recognize him.
It recoiled from him.
Bucky noticed it too. Subtle twitch of his metal arm. "That's not him."
I nodded. "Yeah. I know Fury. This guy's running on borrowed swag."
Fake-Fury's expression flickered. "You're smarter than you look."
And then he changed.
Green skin. Ridged chin. Reptilian eyes.
A Skrull.
"You're far from your sector," I said.
"Orders are orders," he replied, voice more guttural now. "We need to know what's inside your head, Force-wielder. You're not part of the Initiative. Yet."
"Yeah, hard pass on the probing."
He stepped closer. "This doesn't have to be difficult. Surrender, and I can get you in front of the real Fury. Maybe even Stark."
"Funny," I said. "Because I was about to say the same thing to you."
Before the Skrull could respond—before Bucky even twitched—he was lifted into the air and slammed against a parked car.
Subject Zero had arrived.
Clad in black armor, face calm and cruel, she moved like liquid death through the SHIELD agents before they could draw breath.
Gunfire erupted. Bucky fired. One agent went down screaming. The quinjet lifted higher, evasive maneuvers engaged.
And Zero?
She just walked toward me.
"You're not ready to fight me," she said softly.
"I don't need to be. I just need to stop you."
She laughed. "Oh, Rowan. You are me."
My blood ran cold.
"What did you call me?"
"Your name," she whispered. "Rowan. Rowan Skywalker. It's written in your system code, hidden in your Soul. You chose it. In memory of the one who started everything. Anakin's legacy, reborn in Leviathan's fire."
I stared at her. Breathing hard. The name... it felt right. Familiar, like a piece of myself I'd been too afraid to claim.
"Rowan Skywalker," I echoed.
Bucky flanked Zero. "She seducing you or threatening you?"
"Honestly?" I said. "Bit of both I think."
Zero extended a hand. "Join me. Accept the truth. Stop fighting what you are."
I summoned the Force. Felt the wind shift. The air around me shimmered.
"No," I said. "I'm done with ghosts."
Then I pushed.
Force collided with Force, hurling Zero through a shopfront window as the quinjet began its descent.
I didn't stick around to see if Subject Zero got up.
In real life You don't wait for nightmares to catch their breath.
you run.
Bucky and I sprinted across broken pavement and smashed storefronts as the quinjet descended, VTOL thrusters howling. The wind howled louder in my ears than the engines—because the Force was screaming again.
Like it knew someone had just punched a hole in the veil.
"Plan?" Bucky shouted.
"Run now, regret later!" I shouted back.
The quinjet's side doors slid open. SHIELD agents poured out—real ones this time. At least they were dressed like it. I felt them through the Force. Some were panicked. A few were calm—too calm. Professionals.
One of them raised a hand. "Stand down!" I did the opposite.
I jumped.
A Force-assisted leap cleared twenty feet. I landed on a rooftop, rolled, and looked back. Bucky was already climbing a fire escape like a pissed-off assassin.
"Did you have to blow her through the glass?" he grunted.
"She started it."
We regrouped in an abandoned factory outside Berlin. Concrete, rusted piping, and the kind of chill that stuck to your ribs.
Bucky sealed the doors with an old chain and turned to me. "So... she knew your name."
"Not my real one," I said. "The one I chose. Or maybe... the one I remembered."
He raised an eyebrow. "You have a birth certificate stashed somewhere I don't know about?"
"Nope. But the system confirmed it. That's what matters."
[Identity Recognized: ROWAN SKYWALKER]
Bloodline: Classified
Genetic Alignment: Hybrid (Human/??? — Mutation Detected)
Legacy Access: Pending Force Tier II
Note: Memory recovery will progress with Trial Completion and Origin Shard collection.
"Still vague?" Bucky asked, glancing over my shoulder at the UI only I could see.
"Yeah," I muttered. "But clearer than before."
I sat on an overturned crate. My hands trembled. Not from fear. Not entirely. More like... momentum. Like I was still moving, even when sitting still.
"She tried to seduce you," Bucky said flatly.
"Yeah," I muttered. "I got that."
He gave me a look. "You're seventeen."
"Eighteen in two months."
"And she's a clone made from dark Force trauma and psychic superglue."
"Yeah, I have a type."
The system pinged.
[New Objective: Track Subject Zero]
Status: Wounded, Retreating
Last Known Location: Munich perimeter
Intent: Unknown
Warning: You are not ready to face her alone. Recommend training or ally support.
I ignored the last line.
Instead, I opened the new tab that had been lurking since Berlin: [Skill Tree Expansion Available]
Tier I — Force Powers:
Force Pull [Unlocked]
Force Push [Lvl 3]
Telekinesis [Lvl 4]
Precognition [Lvl 2]
Mind Trick [Locked]
Force Sight [Locked]
Tier I — Physical:
Reflex Boost [Passive]
Jump Assist [Passive]
Impact Resistance [1/5]
[New] Coldfire State — Allows temporary control over inner thermal balance. Activate for enhanced resistance in extreme climates and heat-based attacks. Side effect: Eyes glow faint blue.
Coldfire.
I selected it.
And suddenly I understood why I hadn't frozen to death in Siberia. Why the Leviathan pod hadn't left me burned or scarred. My body was adapting to my Force channel — not light, not dark.
Something colder.
Balanced.
Like Anakin could've been.
"You look different," Bucky said.
"Eyes are glowing?"
"Yep."
"Cool."
"You really think that Skrull was acting alone?"
I shook my head. "No. If they're on Earth this early... they're scouting."
"For what?"
"For something worse than Hydra."
He looked grim. "Great. More problems."
The system beeped again.
"Looks like Munich's not optional anymore," I muttered.
Bucky nodded. "well I shore ready to leave."
[Subject Zero POV — Location: Abandoned HYDRA Site, Munich Perimeter]
Pain was irrelevant.
The Force licked at her wounds like cold fire, numbing the broken ribs and shattered glass in her side. She meditated in the center of a dark chamber, breathing in silence and bleeding energy into the cracked symbols around her.
Her armor was scorched. Her pride? Bruised.
But He chose the name.
She whispered it like a lover's prayer—Rowan Skywalker. The syllables curled in her mouth like silk, and it thrilled her. It thrilled her even more that he still didn't understand what he meant to her. Or what he would become.
A part of her wanted to laugh. Another part wanted to kiss him into obedience—then burn the galaxy down for ever looking at him wrong.
"He doesn't understand what he is," she murmured, her voice soft with longing. "Not yet. But he will. He was made for me."
Dozens of monitors flickered to life across the chamber. Each one displayed footage of different trials. Failed clones. Failed vessels. And in the far corner, a single file blinked with a crimson symbol:
PROJECT: NULL WOMB
Subject Zero-B through Zero-E: Inactive
Subject Zero-F: Stirring
WARNING: Mental Overlap Detected
Zero touched the screen. "So I'm not alone either."
She smiled to herself.
"The system didn't choose him. It just reached him first."
She turned to the Force crystal embedded in the stasis core.
It pulsed like a heartbeat. Like Abeloth herself was waiting inside.
Zero opened her arms.
"Let him chase me," she said. "Let him burn the world down looking for answers. I'll be waiting. And when he sees what I've done for him—he'll love me for it."
Nick Fury POV — Location: undisclosed SHIELD Helicarrier]
"I told you to observe, not impersonate me!"
Fury's voice cracked like a whip across the debrief chamber.
Talos, standing in human form but clearly shaken, raised his hands. "We had to make contact. He's not just a kid, Nick. He's a Force-user with enough power to make Strange twitch."
"You don't get to play dress-up with my reputation," Fury barked. "You ever think what would've happened if Rogers saw you?"
Talos sighed. "It was a judgment call. I misjudged the threat."
"No. You misjudged the chessboard."
Fury turned and flicked on a holoscreen. The World Security Council was already waiting. Faces like ghosts — shadowed, blurred, elite.
"You've seen the footage," Fury said. "This kid—Rowan—he's not Hydra, but he's something else. His connection to Subject Zero puts him in the same box as every wildcard that's ever nuked a continent."
Councilman Singh leaned forward. "Do you have control?"
Fury's eye narrowed. "No but I know someone who can give us that control"
There was a pause.
Then Councilwoman Hawley spoke: "Call her."
Fury didn't need clarification.
He stepped into a secure room, tapped an old comm pad, and sighed.
"Carol," he muttered. "We've got a problem. And this one's got a nuke built into his DNA."