I stood in the center of the Tech Hub. The orb pulsed behind me—that mysterious, color-cycling sphere with its persistent golden heartbeat. ARIA's confusion still echoed through our link, but she'd accepted my silence.
For now.
A hush had fallen over the room, the kind that comes before lightning decides whether to strike or just threaten.
I took a breath. And with a sigh that carried the weight of everything I'd become, I closed my eyes. Spread my arms wide. Like a superhero accepting his destiny. Like a supervillain welcoming his throne.
Like something in between—something new, something that didn't fit into the neat categories humans had invented for power.
The pose felt ridiculous. I knew that. Some part of me—the part that was still old Peter Carter, still the bullied kid who used to flinch when Jack Morrison walked past—wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it.
