Multiverse Marines — Episode 2: "Borrowed Venom"
The Multiverse Marines ran on blood, numbers, and envy.
Every rookie knew the math: you started at Level 1, Prestige 0. Every 500 XP meant another level. Reach Level 1000 and you broke the wall—Prestige 1. Then again, again, again. Twenty thousand Prestiges carved into the system like a cruel joke.
Some legends had clawed their way all the way to Prestige 20,000, Level 1000. And the bar just… stopped. No more progress. No more numbers. Until Command decided to unlock it.
To most, the goal felt cosmic, unreachable. To Zack "Speed" Marlin, it felt inevitable.
⸻
Squad Hatred
Zack's squad hated him more by the day. Not the usual rookie ribbing. Not hazing. Pure venom.
They all had levels hundreds deep, Prestiges earned over blood and decades. Zack had joined a week ago and already climbed eight levels off one mission.
Dax Rourke, the heavy gunner, slammed plates onto his cannon while glaring. "Lucky rookie. Leeching XP like a tick. I oughta smoke you in the barracks and call it training."
Mina Sol, sniper and permanent ice storm, spat her words like bullets. "You breathe wrong, and you level up. Makes me sick."
Patch, the medic, shook his head. "Shouldn't be alive after that sting. Shouldn't be leveling like this either. Feels wrong."
Kincaid, their leader, said little. But her stares carried suspicion heavy enough to break bones.
Only Sachi Vale grinned in the shadows. When the squad wasn't looking, she brushed Zack's shoulder with her fingers, whispered, "Let them hate you. I don't."
Later, when eyes were turned, she pulled him into cargo shadows, and the two shared their secret heat—their word for it, their stolen indulgence, was piping. It was messy, sweaty, sneaky, never in the open. And Zack knew it would damn him if it ever got out.
The HUD Expands
Zack's HUD had shifted since the sting. At first it showed only his own stats. Now, in the prep bay, he blinked and nearly staggered.
Squad Roster popped up, glowing in his vision.
— Squad Roster —
Lt. Yara Kincaid: Prestige 0 | Level 412
Dax Rourke: Prestige 0 | Level 288
Sachi Vale: Prestige 0 | Level 235
Oren "Patch" Halvern: Prestige 0 | Level 198
Kade Thorne: Prestige 0 | Level 305
Mina Sol: Prestige 0 | Level 327
Hodge Larkin: Prestige 0 | Level 355
Zack "Speed" Marlin: Prestige 0 | Level 8
He nearly laughed. They hate me, but I see them. Every number. Every weak spot.
Then a new tab glowed: Legends of the Department. Zack tapped it with a thought. His breath caught.
— Department Legends —
Admiral Serrin Kross: Prestige 20,000 | Level 1000
Director Talia Vere: Prestige 20,000 | Level 1000
"Helix Reaver": Prestige 20,000 | Level 1000
"Ghost of Verdantia": Prestige 19,000 | Level 847
The numbers crushed his chest. Gods walked among them, maxed out, capped. Zack's parents had told him bedtime stories about men like Helix Reaver, thinking them myths. But no. They existed. They walked these halls.
Zack closed the HUD before anyone noticed the grin spreading on his lips.
⸻
Mission Briefing
The squad gathered in the mission dome, tension crackling. Admiral Kross himself delivered the briefing, eyes like carved iron.
"Cindershard Expanse. Secondary sweep. Survivors detected. An Alpha Matriarch confirmed. Payouts stand: drones—fifty to five hundred XP. Warriors—five hundred flat. Alpha Matriarch—three thousand."
His stare locked briefly on Zack. "Do not disappoint me twice."
Director Talia Vere appeared on holo beside him, smile soft as poison. "Prestige is real. You see us at Twenty Thousand. You may never touch it. But remember: it can be reached. One thousand levels per Prestige. One thousand deaths per level. Grind well."
Dismissed.
⸻
The Drop
The squad hit Cindershard's sand again. Shards crunched underfoot, air wavering with venom heat.
"Formation," Kincaid barked. "Vale, left. Rourke, wall. Sol, ridge. Speed—you don't leave my shadow."
Dax laughed, bitter. "Perfect. Shadow the rookie. Maybe he'll trip and die this time."
Zack said nothing. His HUD ticked faintly in the corner. His body thrummed like something inside him wanted the XP.
The Nest
They found the Widow pit—a sinkhole alive with chittering. Hundreds of glowing eyes stared up. The ground pulsed like a heartbeat.
Then the swarm broke loose.
Drones first. Skittering, snarling, spraying venom. Zack fired, rifle humming, automatic bursts precise as breathing.
KILL CONFIRMED — Drone — +500 XP
KILL CONFIRMED — Drone — +500 XP
He felt the HUD tally as bullets shredded chitin. His squad noticed, scowled, cursed.
Warriors next. Towering, armored, dripping acid. Hodge braced the wall, Mina sniped their eyes, Dax's cannon tore holes. Zack slid through the gaps, bursts sewing across mandibles.
KILL CONFIRMED — Warrior — +500 XP
ASSIST BONUS — +250 XP
The HUD fed him fire. His reflexes sharpened mid-battle, muscles syncing with the upgrades only he could see.
⸻
The Alpha Matriarch
The pit cracked. Out rose the nightmare: the Alpha Matriarch Widow. Massive, glowing with venom veins, stinger long as a pike.
The squad cursed.
"Three thousand XP," Zack whispered.
"Shut the fuck up and shoot," Mina snapped.
The Alpha charged. Acid sprayed. Glass dunes shattered. Marines roared, cursed, bled. Zack sprinted beneath its legs, sliding, rifle singing full auto into the underbelly. The Widow shrieked, thrashing, blinded by fury.
"NOW!" Kincaid screamed. Mina's bullet found its brain. Dax's cannon tore it open. The Alpha fell, shaking the pit.
Silence. Only the squad's panting filled the air. And Zack's HUD burned.
MISSION PAYOUT:
— Drone Kills: +1,000 XP
— Warrior Kill: +500 XP
— Assist: +250 XP
— Alpha Matriarch Share: +3,000 XP
TOTAL: +4,750 XP
LEVEL UP!
Zack "Speed" Marlin
Prestige 0 | Level 17
(300 / 500 XP toward Level 18)
Gun Skills: 3
Enhancements: 3
Nine levels in one sweep. The venom still burned inside him, but his body felt sharper, cleaner. Every reload clicked like the gun wanted him to win. Every step landed like the ground moved aside.
The others looked at him, eyes narrow. Envy. Hatred. Fear.
⸻
Fallout
Back in the barracks, the squad erupted.
"You don't climb like that," Mina hissed. "Not in two missions. Not unless you're cheating."
"You're a parasite," Dax spat. "We fight, you leech XP. One day we'll cut you out."
Patch muttered, "Feels like bad math. You should've been corpses twice already."
Even Kincaid's voice went low and dangerous. "You're hiding something, rookie. I see the way you move. Either you tell me, or I'll beat it out of you."
Zack smirked. "Guess I'm just built different."
Sachi leaned close, lips brushing his ear. "And that's why I like piping you in secret, rookie." She smirked, striding away.
The squad glared, pure venom. Pure jealousy.
⸻
Closing
That night, Zack studied the HUD. His squad's levels ticked. His own sat at Level 17. He was still nothing compared to them—but rising far faster than anyone alive.
He scrolled the Legends tab again, staring at the maxed-out names: Prestige 20,000, Level 1000. Untouchable. Gods in flesh.
But Zack smiled. His heart whispered: One day, I'll stand where they stand. And I won't stop until the bar breaks again.