Hollis's eyes had gone completely black, no whites, just pure darkness.
The tablet he'd been holding clattered to the ground as he stood trembling in place, head tilted back at an unnatural angle, his whole posture twisted and eerie.
Rory immediately turned on the camera to record.
"Time: 13:17. First recording of the Immortal Gene Test. After three days of experimentation, no traces of an immortal gene have been found in the subject's body. However, during the fusion process with the Celestial gene, the subject has undergone unknown changes."
"No visible alterations to the host's body. Eyes appear fully blackened. No energy detected. Possible neural activation of the optic nerve triggered by unknown cerebral elements."
"Body is trembling unnaturally. Body temperature: 43.5 degrees Celsius. Neural disruption possibly caused by cellular combustion. Subject appears to have lost conscious control."
With the physiological signs logged, Rory picked up a photonic scanner and aimed it at Hollis's body.
"Abnormal brain activity… likely caused by external energy interference."
Within seconds, the photonic scanner began smoking, then shorted out completely.
Rory couldn't feel any energy output. So he pulled out a magnetic field detector.
The moment he brought it close,
Boom.
It maxed out instantly.
Then popped and fizzled into useless scrap.
"What the hell is going on?!"
Every electronic device in the lab began flickering. Lights dimmed, sparked, and pulsed erratically. Just as Rory feared something catastrophic was about to happen,
Everything stopped.
Complete stillness returned to the lab.
Thud.
Hollis collapsed in a heap.
Rory rushed over and hoisted him onto the experiment table, running a quick diagnostic. Body temperature: normal. Cell activity: normal. The only anomaly was his brain, it was still firing like crazy.
To put it into perspective: a normal person dreaming at night would register a brain activity level of about 1.
Hollis was at a solid 7.
Rory didn't know exactly what had just happened. But one thing was clear, it had something to do with the Celestial gene.
The event had coincided perfectly with his cellular puncture test on Hollis. Too much of a coincidence to ignore.
He strapped Hollis down again with reinforced restraints, just in case there were any sudden mutations… or worse.
TV dramas always showed things going wrong when someone didn't prepare.
Even if Hollis couldn't hurt Rory, damage to the equipment, or to a batch of serum, would still be a pain in the ass.
With Hollis unconscious again, Rory went back to the microscope to check on the test samples.
What he saw nearly made him swear out loud.
The cells were still dividing. Continuously.
He scrambled to activate the recording feature on the electron microscope.
"If Hollis's cells really contain an immortal gene, and if the Celestial gene draws in cosmic energy to produce stem cells… oh hell… am I looking at… a perpetual motion machine? A living cosmic engine?"
Theoretically, if these two genetic codes fused, they could enable infinite cellular replication, an exponential expansion that could swallow an entire universe.
Of course, that was only theory. Rory had injected an extremely small amount of Celestial gene, barely enough to energize a single cell. Once energy depleted, the process would stop.
But what if someone had both gene types inside them from the start?
The idea was wild. Dangerous.
It would require someone who could endure the full weight of the universe's energy, without dying.
Rory turned to look at the unconscious Hollis.
He really wanted to try it.
But he wasn't ready to break the toy just yet.
"Ugh… What… happened to me?"
Hollis groaned, eyes fluttering open. He tugged against the restraints and immediately noticed he was tied down, again.
"Mr. Rory, why am I tied up again?"
Rory put down the tool in his hand and approached.
"Do you feel any discomfort in your body?"
Hollis frowned, ran a quick internal check, then shook his head.
"No. Everything feels… fine, actually."
"Try to remember," Rory said. "What happened right before you lost consciousness?"
Hollis could tell this wasn't a casual question, so he concentrated hard, going over everything in his mind.
"I… we ate lunch. Then came back to the lab. You were running tests, I was off to the side playing a game on your tablet, and then… and then, "
He paused. His eyes went wide.
"I think I went somewhere. It was… pitch black. Totally silent. But then these golden beams of light appeared, "
"…That's all I remember."
Interestingly, his heart rate had never stopped, he hadn't died and resurrected. It was simply an extremely deep, unconscious episode.
Rory gave a slow nod and reassured him.
"Alright. Rest for now. I'll finish my work and come untie you later."
He returned to the lab bench and opened his paper notebook, he never stored data digitally, to avoid leaving it accessible to the U.S. military.
[Mental shift suspected. Dimensional overlap not ruled out. Possible resonance between Celestial cell and host consciousness. Energy harmonization?]
The clues were thin. But he wrote down what he could.
For the next few days, Rory repeated the tests, trying to recreate the phenomenon, combining Celestial gene samples with Hollis's blood.
But no matter what he tried, the abnormal state never reappeared. He was beginning to doubt whether the Celestial gene was really the trigger.
Meanwhile, the day had arrived for Secretary Ross and S.H.I.E.L.D. to face off at a joint hearing.
S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers had submitted a formal motion: remove Rory from his role as a military research advisor.
Their reasoning was straightforward, Rory had murdered two Avengers, and fought a battle in Midtown Manhattan that nearly leveled the entire district.
From a national security standpoint, he should be classified as a dangerous rogue, not placed in an official military position.
Ross adjusted the mic in front of him and spoke calmly.
"First of all, let me state: the Avengers' operation did not receive official authorization. Per the addendum to the Sokovia Accords, their actions lacked legal standing. Just because someone once saved the world doesn't give them the right to decide what's right and wrong."
"Second," Ross continued, "the destruction of Midtown wasn't caused by a single individual. It was the result of many combatants. And if anyone did the most damage, it was Dr. Bruce Banner."
Ross never missed a chance to throw Banner under the bus.
After all, the guy had dated his daughter… then absconded with a ton of government research.
Later, the military's attempts to recapture him had only resulted in massive losses.
Ross blamed all of it on Bruce Banner.
Anytime someone mentioned the Avengers, Ross made sure to drag Banner's name through the mud.
Now, staring calmly at the S.H.I.E.L.D. and Avengers representatives across the room, Ross asked coldly:
"If you claim Rory is dangerous, or that he's committed some atrocity, please present the evidence."
"Because to accuse someone without evidence… is a crime in itself."
He might've been a military man at heart, but Ross had spent enough time in politics to master the craft. His rhetoric was sharp, structured, and impossible to refute.
S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers had nothing solid to present.
After all, future crimes hadn't happened yet. And events from alternate timelines? They didn't count here.
They held no legal weight in this world.
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