Chapter 7
The air in Forest Hills was static-thick, smelling of ozone and the metallic tang of cosmic interference. As the Null-Walker descended, it didn't just hover; it anchored itself to the space above the Miller driveway, turning the familiar suburban street into a surrealist nightmare. The trees began to lose their color, turning into gray, two-dimensional cutouts, as the entity began to "unwrite" the local reality.
Alex landed in the center of the street, the concrete cracking beneath his feet. The silver of his suit was now pulsing with a rhythmic, golden light—the Doctor Fate template struggling to harmonize with the Surfer's raw power.
"Sarah! Get Maya to the crawlspace! Now!" Alex yelled, his voice echoing with a triple-layered resonance.
"We're already there, Alex!" Sarah's voice came through the comms, breathless and terrified. "The garage... the gold ingots you made... they're glowing, Alex. They're turning black!"
"It's a resonance loop," Gwen Stacy landed beside him, her white-and-pink hood fluttering in the unnatural wind. "The Null-Walker isn't just a monster; it's a cosmic vacuum. It's trying to reclaim the energy you diverted from the timeline. If it reaches that garage, it'll trigger a collapse that'll take the whole block with it."
Peter Parker swung down from a telephone pole, landing in a crouch. He was holding a bulky, silver-and-black device—the "Vibro-Stabilizer" Sarah had cobbled together from Shocker's tech and Alex's blueprints.
"The neighborhood's evacuated, mostly," Peter said, his voice steady despite the horror above them. "But the police and SHIELD are at the perimeter. We have maybe three minutes before this becomes a global news event."
"Three minutes is all we need," Alex said, his white lenses focusing on the core of the void. "Peter, Gwen, keep the entropy-tendrils off me. I need to reach the center of that thing to plant a Seal of Order."
"You got it, Chrome-Dome," Peter said, firing a web-line. "Just don't go disappearing on us again."
The battle began with a roar that wasn't sound, but a vibration in the soul. The Null-Walker lashed out with dozens of oily, black appendages. Peter moved with his classic agility, weaving through the chaos, while Gwen used her dimensional coins to "warp" the tendrils away, causing them to strike each other.
Alex took a deep breath. He tapped into the 1.2% of the Flash template.
Speed.
The world slowed to a crawl. He blurred past the reaching shadows, his silver suit leaving a trail of golden lightning. He reached the base of the void, but the closer he got, the more his "Cosmic Awareness" screamed. The density of the entropy was like swimming through liquid lead.
[...Integration: 21.5%...]
[...Warning: Molecular Cohesion at 40%...]
[...The Host is beginning to de-resonate...]
"System! Reroute the Power Cosmic to the Fate Seal!" Alex commanded.
[...Executing. Accessing the 'Order' frequency...]
Alex raised his hands. A massive, three-dimensional golden Ankh began to form in front of him, glowing with the intensity of a dying star.
"By the laws of the First Light," Alex chanted, his voice becoming a roar. "I define this space! I command this reality to remain!"
He slammed the seal into the heart of the Null-Walker.
A blinding shockwave of white and gold erupted. For a split second, everyone in Queens saw two suns—one setting in the west, and one burning in the middle of a suburban street.
The Null-Walker shrieked, its form beginning to shatter. But as it died, it made one final, desperate move. It reached through the ground, targeting the concentrated Power Cosmic in the garage.
CRACK.
The garage floor exploded. The black-gold ingots Alex had created didn't melt; they turned into a singularity. A small, swirling vortex of absolute nothingness began to grow in the middle of the Miller's home.
"NO!" Alex screamed.
He didn't think. He didn't calculate. He dove into the hole.
Inside the garage, the air was being sucked into the vortex. Alex saw his father's workbench, his sister's art supplies, and his own old bike being pulled toward the black hole.
He landed in front of the vortex, his silver armor glowing with every ounce of energy he had left.
"Alex! Get out of there!" Peter's voice was a frantic scream over the comms. "The whole house is going to collapse!"
"I can stop it," Alex whispered.
He reached into the vortex. The pain was unlike anything he had ever felt—it wasn't physical; it was the sensation of his history, his memories, and his very atoms being erased.
[...Integration: 25% (Critical Milestone)...]
[...Template Synergy: The Infinite Guardian...]
[...Ability Unlocked: Reality Anchoring...]
Alex didn't pull back. He pushed. He forced his own molecular structure to expand, to fill the hole the Null-Walker had left behind. He used the Batman template's iron will, the Surfer's cosmic endurance, and the Flash's speed to stitch the atoms of his garage back together.
The vortex flickered... and vanished.
Alex slumped to the floor, his suit retracting completely. He was back in his civilian clothes—torn, scorched, and covered in white lunar dust. The garage was a wreck, but the house was still standing.
He looked up to see Peter and Gwen standing in the doorway, their masks off, their faces pale with shock.
"Alex?" Peter whispered.
"I'm... I'm okay," Alex wheezed, trying to stand up.
But as he looked at his hand, he saw the cost. His skin was no longer just human. A faint, permanent silver sheen ran through his veins like a circuit board, and his eyes... they weren't brown anymore. They were a deep, swirling violet.
"Alex, look out!" Gwen yelled.
A shadow moved at the edge of the garage. It wasn't the Null-Walker.
Phil Coulson and a team of SHIELD agents stood in the driveway, their weapons drawn, but their expressions were of pure awe. Behind them, Elena and David Miller were being held back by agents, their faces contorted in terror and confusion.
"Alex?" David Miller's voice broke the silence. "Son... what did you do?"
Alex looked at his parents, then at the silver light pulsing beneath his skin. The "Slice of Life" was officially over.
"I saved the world, Dad," Alex said, his voice calm and ancient. "And I think it's time we talked."
The garage was a tomb of silent tension. Dust motes, still glowing with a faint, residual gold, danced in the air. Phil Coulson stepped forward, his hand raised to signal his agents to hold their fire, though the red laser sights of a dozen rifles were still centered on Alex's chest.
"Mr. Miller," Coulson said, his voice surprisingly soft. "We've seen what just happened. We've seen what you are. For the safety of your family and this neighborhood, I need you to come with us."
"He's not going anywhere!" David Miller roared, breaking past a SHIELD agent's grip. He stumbled into the wreckage of the garage, his eyes darting from the ruined workbench to his son. "Alex... your eyes. Your skin. What did they do to you?"
"David, stay back!" Elena cried, her medical instincts warring with her maternal terror. She looked at Alex not as a son, but as a patient with a condition that defied every textbook she had ever read. "Alex, honey, tell us what's happening. Who are these people?"
Alex looked at his parents. The 25% integration milestone had settled a heavy, calm weight into his mind. He wasn't just Alex anymore; he was a nexus.
"They're S.H.I.E.L.D., Mom," Alex said. He stood up, and as he did, the floorboards beneath him groaned. His body was now significantly denser, his weight shifting in a way that felt geological. "And they aren't the ones who did this. I did. To myself."
"Authorization Alpha-One!" Coulson barked into his shoulder mic. "Initiate the containment field!"
Four SHIELD drones hovered over the driveway, projecting a shimmering blue lattice of energy meant to neutralize superhuman abilities. It was the same tech they used to contain rogue Asgardians.
Alex felt the field touch his skin. To a normal person, it would feel like a static shock; to him, it felt like a mild breeze. He raised his left hand—the one still shimmering with permanent silver—and made a circular motion.
[...Integration: 25.1% (Doctor Fate)...]
[...Spell: The Warding of Thoth...]
A golden circle, inscribed with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, manifested in the air. The blue containment field didn't just stop; it shattered into harmless sparks as the golden light pushed it back.
"I'm not a threat, Agent Coulson," Alex said, his voice dropping into that double-toned, cosmic resonance. "But I'm not a prisoner either. If you want to talk, we talk in my home. As neighbors. Not as 'assets'."
Coulson looked at the golden sigil, then at the teenager who was holding back a government task force with a flick of his wrist. He sighed, adjusting his tie. "Stand down, teams. Perimeter only. Give us the room."
The Millers, Peter, and Gwen Stacy sat in the living room. Sarah was on the floor, her hand resting on Alex's knee, a silent show of support. David and Elena sat on the sofa, looking like they were waiting for a death sentence.
"Seven years ago," Alex began, "I had a dream about a choice. I chose to protect people. I didn't know it would look like this."
He explained it as best he could without mentioning the word "System." He spoke of a "Genetic Resonance" that allowed him to tap into the archetypes of heroes. He explained the templates—the detective, the herald, the runner, and the mage.
"So, you're... all of them?" David asked, his voice shaking. "You're the man who fought the Goblin? The one who turned the sand to glass?"
"Yes, Dad."
"And you," Elena turned her gaze to Peter and Gwen. "You were with him. You're the Spider-Man the news talks about?"
Peter looked down at his feet, his mask clutched in his lap. "Yes, Mrs. Miller. Alex saved me. More than once. The suit I was wearing... it was changing me. He stopped it."
Elena looked at her son, her eyes filling with tears. "Alex, I'm a doctor. I've seen what happens to people who take on too much. You're seventeen. Your cells are... they're vibrating. I can hear it from across the room. How much of 'you' is even left?"
Alex walked over and knelt at his mother's feet. He took her hand. It was cold, but when he touched it, a wave of warmth passed through her.
[...Action: Healing Pulse (Low Level)...]
The stress-induced tension in Elena's shoulders vanished instantly. Her pulse slowed. The gray pallor of shock left her face.
"It's still me, Mom," Alex whispered. "I just have a bigger neighborhood to look after now."
"We can help with that," Coulson said from the doorway. He had been listening, his laptop open. "The World Security Council wants you registered, Alex. But Director Fury sees the value in 'private contractors.' You stay in Queens. You stay in school. But when the big things come—the things the Avengers can't handle yet—you answer the phone."
"I have my own conditions," Alex said, standing up.
"Name them."
"One: My family stays out of your files. They are off-limits for 'leverage'. Two: Peter and Gwen operate under my protection. Three: You fix my garage. I need a lab that isn't made of plywood."
Coulson smirked. "I think we can manage the garage. We'll even throw in a state-of-the-art server for your 'intelligence officer'," he said, glancing at Sarah.
Later that night, after the SHIELD trucks had pulled away and the "Official Cover Story" of a gas leak had been distributed to the neighbors, Alex stood on the roof of his house.
Gwen Stacy landed beside him, her white hood down.
"You did it," she said. "You anchored your reality. For now."
"For now," Alex agreed. He looked at the 25% integration mark in his HUD. It was no longer a progress bar; it was a compass. "But Gwen, the Doctor Fate template... it showed me something when I closed the void."
"What?"
"The Null-Walker wasn't just a monster. It was a scout. There's a war coming, Gwen. A 'Secret War' across the multiverse. And this Earth is the center of the target."
"Then it's a good thing you're leveling up," Gwen said, a small, sad smile on her face. "Because I don't think one Spider-Woman is going to be enough."
Alex looked up at the moon. The violet handprint was gone, replaced by a soft, golden glow that only he could see. He felt the Speed Force, the Power Cosmic, and the Magic of Order swirling together, forming a new template—one that didn't have a name yet.
The student from Queens was gone. The Herald of Rebirth had arrived.