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Oscrop Research Facility — Level Zero
Rows of containment pods pulsed with crimson light. Inside, countless clones of infected superhumans twitched and screamed as machines recorded every fluctuation in their cells.
The air was thick with ozone, chemicals, and the sound of data streams flowing like rivers.
Dr. Curt Connors—once the Lizard, now Nolan's lead biologist—approached, clutching a datapad.
"Boss, the latest trials are in," he said grimly. "The Death Spore compound is still our strongest weapon. It devours the viral strain instantly. But…" His eyes dropped to the graphs. "It doesn't differentiate. It destroys everything."
Nolan glanced through the holographic feed—bodies dissolving into sludge, tissue reduced to shimmering gray dust.
"And this one?" he asked, pointing to a flickering image where a test subject looked almost… human again.
"Failed," Connors replied. "The infection cleared—but within minutes the body liquefied. The spores consumed too much. They erased the virus and the host at the same time."
Nolan exhaled softly, eyes narrowing in thought.
"We're close," he murmured. "Too close for this to be coincidence."
----
By now, their serum could reverse most symptoms. The infected regained skin tone, heartbeat, even higher cognition.
But deep within their DNA—the X-gene—the viral echo still lingered.
A ticking time bomb.
If they ever used their powers again, the virus would reignite.
That wasn't a cure.
That was a pause button.
"Continue the trials," Nolan ordered. "Clone more infected. Push every sample to the limit. If we break enough systems, one will survive."
Connors hesitated. "You mean—brute force iteration?"
"Exactly," Nolan said coldly. "Evolution demands sacrifice."
Within hours, the entire Oscrop complex roared to life.
Rows of containment tanks filled. The cries of cloned zombie heroes echoed through the halls as autonomous arms conducted injections at inhuman speed. Data surged—billions of samples, thousands of failures per second.
The AI voice filled the lab:
[Trial #47F — Failure]
Self-healing factor destabilized.
Death Spores and Regenerative Cells incompatible — reaction exothermic. Subject terminated.
Nolan frowned. "So the self-healing proteins reject the spore structure…"
Then an idea sparked.
"What if," he said slowly, "the spores don't just destroy the virus… what if they replace it?"
Connors blinked. "Replace it?"
"The virus has already integrated itself into the X-gene's scaffolding. Remove it, and the structure collapses. But if the Death Spores take its place—if they assume the viral architecture—they could stabilize the cell, rebuilding what they destroyed."
He turned toward the workstation. "Run the test."
----
Dozens of cloned Zombie Wolverines were rolled into the chamber, their adamantium claws twitching under restraint.
The lab filled with a low hum as a mixture of Death Spores, nanometal particles, and regenerative factor was prepared.
"Inject," Nolan ordered.
The serum entered their veins like liquid silver.
For a moment, silence.
Then—screams.
The mutants convulsed violently. Some bodies ruptured, collapsing into viscous pools. Others—a few stabilized. Their skin regained color. Their healing factor kicked in.
Nolan's eyes gleamed. "Run genetic scans."
Connors' voice trembled as results appeared. "Their X-genes… are mutating. The viral code's gone—but it's been overwritten by something new. A hybrid matrix. Death Spore structure bonded with native genome."
Nolan smiled faintly. "It works."
"Barely," Connors warned. "The dosage is delicate. Too much, they melt. Too little, the virus rebounds. We need exponential data refinement."
"Then collect it," Nolan said simply.
----
As his team continued the trials, Nolan stood apart, the Power Stone glowing faintly in his palm.
Violet light rippled up his arm as he extended his consciousness into it—his soul threading through the gem's crystalline core.
For any other being, this would mean instant annihilation. But Nolan was evolution incarnate.
His essence intertwined with the Stone's—analyzing, copying, decoding.
The more he saw, the clearer the truth became.
Each Infinity Stone shared a universal template—a core lattice of divine logic. But each one also held a unique constant, a signature of individuality.
He already possessed data from another universe's full set of Stones. Now, with this one, he could refine the pattern—approaching the perfection of a living Infinity Engine.
The purple light intensified. His veins shimmered. The Power Stone's essence began to resonate with him—less an object, more an organ.
When he opened his eyes, the world trembled faintly.
----
Moments later, Connors burst in, nearly stumbling over his own excitement. "Boss—it worked! The infection's gone. The new tissue's stable!"
Nolan raised a brow. "Confirmed?"
"Confirmed. The Death Spores rebuilt the genome perfectly. The virus is gone, permanently. It can't re-manifest or propagate."
Nolan's expression remained calm, but the corners of his lips curved slightly. "As expected."
In truth, it wasn't the spores alone.
It was him.
His presence—his unique signature of self-evolution—altered the metaphysical rule that bound the virus to the Multiverse. Only he could rewrite it.
Just as Strange couldn't stop the loop, no machine or serum could cure the infection's essence.
Because what they fought wasn't biology. It was a cosmic law of decay.
And only a being of true singularity could override a law.
As the lights dimmed across the Oscrop tower, the infected clones slept peacefully for the first time.
The data feeds stabilized. The screams stopped.
Outside, the apocalyptic skyline of the zombie world flickered with a new color—soft, radiant, alive.
For the first time in countless cycles…
the loop had changed.
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