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Oscrop Research Facility — Level Zero
Rows of containnt pods pulsed with crimson light. Inside, countless clones of infected superhumans twitched and scread 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 shimring 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 consud too much. They erased the virus and the host at the sa ti."
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 ti 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 an—brute force iteration?"
"Exactly," Nolan said coldly. "Evolution demands sacrifice."
Within hours, the entire Oscrop complex roared to life.
Rows of containnt 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 assu 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, nanotal particles, and regenerative factor was prepared.
"Inject," Nolan ordered.
The serum entered their veins like liquid silver.
For a mont, silence.
Then—screams.
The mutants convulsed violently. So bodies ruptured, collapsing into viscous pools. Others—a few stabilized. Their skin regained color. Their healing factor kicked in.
Nolan's eyes glead. "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 sothing new. A hybrid matrix. Death Spore structure bonded with native geno."
Nolan smiled faintly. "It works."
"Barely," Connors warned. "The dosage is delicate. Too much, they lt. Too little, the virus rebounds. We need exponential data refinent."
"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 an 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 beca.
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 shimred. 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.
----
Monts later, Connors burst in, nearly stumbling over his own excitent. "Boss—it worked! The infection's gone. The new tissue's stable!"
Nolan raised a brow. "Confird?"
"Confird. The Death Spores rebuilt the geno 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 taphysical 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 dimd across the Oscrop tower, the infected clones slept peacefully for the first ti.
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 ti in countless cycles…
the loop had changed.
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