The facility was silent now.
Not with absence, but anticipation.
Where once there was chaos, forced evolution, and screaming failures, now there was direction.
My direction.
Lorne stood at the console, fingers blurring across the keys like a man possessed. He didn't need orders anymore. I watched him work from above, arms folded, as his obsession began to align perfectly with my vision.
"Three viable chambers," he muttered. "Cryogenic seals intact. Neural-sync scaffolding degraded but adaptable. Fusion engines active."
"Start with one."
He looked up, confused. "Just one?"
I nodded toward the lab floor—toward Kurt.
The boy stood quietly beneath the lights, shoulders squared, no fear in his eyes. Just trust.
Lorne blinked, realization dawning.
"You want him to be the foundation."
"He's not just a subject," I said. "He's the standard."
Kurt stepped into the integration chamber without hesitation.
He didn't need an explanation.
He didn't need to ask.
He believed in me.
That made him dangerous.
That made him worthy.
Lorne flicked switches, activated the sequence. The restraints locked into place, sensors synced, and the hum of fusion arrays filled the air.
"Ten power nodes connected," Lorne muttered. "This is… unprecedented."
10 minutes in, the chamber surged with unstable pulses. Lightning. Gravity spikes. Flashes of light and heat. Kurt's body convulsed under the strain of ten different powers.
Lorne paled. "This might kill him."
"No," I said quietly. "He'll survive."
The system pulsed again.
Enhanced Strength
Reflexive Teleportation
Reactive Muscle Memory
Density Reinforcement
Shockwave Pulse
Endurance Amplification
Regenerative Mutation
Momentum Manipulation
Power Dampening Field
Kinetic Absorption
Kurt wasn't just being enhanced.
He was being rebuilt.
The chamber exploded with light—panels burst, smoke rushed from the sides. Lorne stumbled back, shielding his eyes.
Then silence.
The cracked glass parted. The steel restraints fell away.
And from the smoke, Kurt stepped out.
Larger. Bulkier. Muscles grown dense and hardened like armor. His skin shimmered with latent force. His eyes glowed faintly—a deep violet over gold.
But something was different.
He didn't speak.
He didn't look around.
He simply turned to me.
"Kael..." he rumbled—voice deeper, slurred, dragging with weight."...I follow."
Lorne's mouth parted in shock. "His neural mapping… it's degraded. His higher cognition isn't gone—but it's submerged. His mind is functioning on instinct. Loyalty."
I stepped forward. "Say something else."
Kurt's head tilted. A low growl buzzed in his chest.
"Protect… you."
"Who do you obey?"
He dropped to one knee.
"All... for... One."
That was enough.
Lorne swallowed. "He's… functional. Command-responsive. But his capacity for speech, thought—it's primal. Stripped down to your voice, your authority."
"Good," I said.
Lorne blinked. "You don't want to fix him?"
"No."
"I want him loyal. Obedient. Unshakable. The others can think. He protects."
Lorne recovered quickly, scientific hunger overtaking his awe.
"He's not just surviving the fusions—his body is harmonizing them. If we can refine the process using him as the baseline, we can replicate it."
"Good," I said. "Start building the next ones."
_________________________________________________________________________________
That night, I stood alone in the observation deck, watching Kurt in the reinforced chamber below.
He didn't train. He waited.
Eyes on the door.
Back straight.
Breathing steady.
He didn't tire. He didn't hesitate.
He just… stood guard.
Like a wall with a will.
Like a beast leashed to my voice.
_________________________________________________________________________________
The next day, Lorne brought schematics for the next integration trials—five potential subjects, all prisoners left behind in Project Reclamation's early purges. Low-level mutants. Discarded. Forgotten.
But one stood out.
A girl, no older than sixteen. Pale. Malnourished. Eyes hollow from too much silence and too little mercy. But her power… it was different.
Neural mimicry.
She could copy motor functions instantly—reflexes, reactions, combat movements. Her body remembered what her mind didn't. In a fight, she would become whoever she faced.
Potential.
"She's the only one who might survive a triple merge," Lorne said cautiously.
"Do it."
He hesitated.
"There's something else," he added, tone darkening. "A surveillance node was triggered two nights ago. Near the old shipping yard."
I turned toward him slowly.
"Government?"
Lorne nodded. "Grade-A signature. Remote probe. They didn't get a full scan, but enough to know something's here. Someone's looking. Maybe for me. Maybe for you."
I didn't blink.
Let them look.
Let them come.
"If they want to see what I've become…
"My voice was low. Controlled.
"Then I'll show them what evolution looks like."
I glanced once more at Kurt, who stood in silence at the chamber's edge—glowing eyes fixed ahead, jaw clenched, fists ready.
He was no longer just a pawn.
He was the Apex.
My enforcer.
My hound.
Mine.
Ascension continues.