Dr. Chen swayed slightly the moment they returned to the cafeteria, instinctively reaching out to steady herself against the wall.
Ethan noticed. "You might feel wobbly for a few moments. Your body isn't used to moving through space like that."
Chen took a slow breath, waiting for the dizziness to pass. "That was teleportation?"
"Not exactly. I moved us from one location to another at the speed of light."
She stared at him, trying to process that.
Before she could ask another question, the cafeteria doors burst open. A squad of security personnel rushed inside with rifles raised.
"Don't move! Hands where we can see them!"
Several laser sights settled on Ethan's chest. Chen immediately raised a hand. "Wait—"
Ethan scratched the back of his head and sighed.
The rifles slipped out of every soldier's hands simultaneously. They floated through the air, turned around, and stopped with their barrels pointed back at the people who had been holding them a moment ago.
The entire squad froze. Nobody had seen Ethan move. Nobody understood what had happened.
Ethan looked around with a tired expression. "Well... the tables have turned." He gestured at the floating weapons. "How about we all calm down and talk peacefully? I'd rather not turn this into a bigger problem."
The soldiers stayed perfectly still.
Ethan looked at his own hand thoughtfully. "Hm. Time and space. I haven't really experimented with those much." He slowly raised a finger. "I wonder what happens if I compress space..."
The atmosphere in the room became suffocating instantly. Even before he did anything, everyone present understood that whatever came next would be catastrophic.
Chen stepped in front of him. "Stop." Her voice was calm but direct. "This is a misunderstanding. We reacted because we didn't know who you were. There's no need to prove anything else."
Ethan was silent for a few seconds. Then he lowered his hand. "Fair enough."
The pressure vanished. The floating rifles drifted gently back toward their owners. Several soldiers caught them instinctively but didn't raise them again. Only then did they realize they'd all been holding their breath.
***
Ethan looked around the MONARCH command center with genuine interest. "This is a pretty cool setup."
His eyes moved across the rows of consoles, the massive displays tracking Titan movements, the sonar feeds, the dozens of technicians working in coordination beneath the ocean. "Building something like this under the sea is genuinely impressive."
Rick Stanton folded his arms. "Well, Dr. Chen, I don't mind you bringing your boyfriend for a tour, but this is the main control room."
Chen turned to him with a flat stare. The look on her face clearly asked whether he was serious.
Rick cleared his throat. "...Right. Probably not."
Several technicians suddenly stopped typing. One by one, heads turned upward.
Ethan was standing on the ceiling.
Upside down. Completely relaxed. Looking around with obvious curiosity as though gravity was a matter of personal preference.
"Wow... this place really does look cool from up here."
The room went silent.
One analyst slowly lowered his headset. "...How is he doing that?"
Rick pinched the bridge of his nose. "I've decided I don't want to know."
Ethan glanced down at everyone. "Oh, quick question."
The staff looked up at him.
"Does this universe have GTA VI yet?"
Confused looks were exchanged. One of the younger analysts hesitantly answered. "Uh... no. I think it's still about four years away."
Ethan's shoulders slumped. "...Fuck that."
The command center went quiet again.
One technician leaned toward his colleague and whispered, "Out of everything he's seen in this room... that's what disappointed him?"
"You have no idea what it's like waiting years for a game that isn't even out yet," Ethan said with a sigh, apparently having heard the whisper from the ceiling. "Maybe I should pay the developers a visit."
Before anyone could respond, he vanished.
A voice came from directly in front of the technician who had whispered.
"I wonder if they'd let me play an early build."
The technician nearly fell out of his chair. Ethan was standing inches away, leaning over the console with genuine curiosity.
"How long do you think it'd take me to convince them?"
The technician stared at him. "...I don't know."
"Indeed. How could you know," Ethan agreed, completely seriously.
***
Chen walked quietly to one of the nearby terminals and began scrolling through MONARCH's archived records. Most of the files weren't about Titans. They were translations of ancient myths collected from civilizations around the world.
She skimmed through passage after passage.
The gods are beyond human understanding. Their actions rarely follow human logic. Do not judge divine beings by mortal standards. They may appear wise one moment and absurd the next.
She slowly lowered her gaze from the screen.
Almost every ancient account described gods as mysterious, unpredictable beings whose actions seemed completely irrational to humans.
She glanced across the control room.
Ethan was standing beside one of the workstations pressing random buttons out of pure curiosity while Rick Stanton tried repeatedly to stop him.
"Please don't touch that one."
Ethan pressed it anyway. "Huh. Nothing happened."
Rick immediately hurried over. "That's because it's locked!"
Chen watched the scene for a moment before looking back at the ancient texts.
"...Somehow," she murmured, "the records were right."
Gods apparently did behave in ways that ordinary people simply couldn't understand.
***
A/N: And on Patreon, The Boys arc started.
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