Shockwaves - Part 1
The morning light did not bring clarity, but chaos. Trying to hide the Harlem battle was like trying to cover the sun with a sieve. The magnitude was simply colossal. Two green titans, an army of creatures straight out of a dark fairy tale, and the destruction of entire city blocks were witnessed by thousands, filmed by hundreds of cell phones, and broadcast live before any censorship could act.
The official narrative crumbled almost instantly. Initial attempts to classify the event as a "terrorist attack" or "military exercise" were met with screams of disbelief and public outrage. The images of the P.E.K.K.A. slicing the Abomination, the Healers performing miracles, and the Giants facing the monster were global viral videos. The press, initially restrained, now fed an insatiable frenzy. The headlines screamed: "GODS AND MONSTERS BATTLE IN NEW YORK!", "ANGELS AND DEMONS INVADE HARLEM!", "THE END TIMES?".
Panic was palpable. The streets around Harlem were clogged with the curious, conspiracy theorists, religious fanatics, and terrified citizens. The U.S. government was in a state of undeclared emergency, desperately trying to contain the situation while watching its authority be eroded by the undeniable reality of mutant power on a never-before-dreamed scale.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Situation Room - Maximum Crisis Level
Nick Fury was no longer standing still. He paced the room, his single eye scanning the dozens of screens showing global news, social media feeds, and field reports. The voice of a CNN anchor echoed in the room: "—the question everyone is asking: who, or what, is the young man in the red cloak who commanded this fantasy army? Authorities remain silent, but unidentified sources call him 'The Engineer'—"
"Turn that shit off," Fury growled.
Silence fell. He turned to his team. Maria Hill, Phil Coulson, and Natasha Romanoff watched him, their faces serious.
"Information containment failed. The public narrative is lost. Our focus now is damage control and threat assessment." Fury pointed to the frozen image of Kael stopping the bullet. "That kid is no longer a secret. He's a global phenomenon. And he just showed the whole world that a single mutant can face a Hulk-level threat and still have troops left over to humiliate a United States General."
"The whole world is watching, Nick," said Natasha, her voice calm but laden with implication. "They saw power. They saw healing. And they saw defiance. To many, he's a hero. To others, an antichrist."
"And to us," Fury completed, "he's the most volatile piece on the geopolitical chessboard since the discovery of the Cosmic Cube. Coulson, the 'Omega' classification is definitive. I want the Tiger Division, Alpha Flight, and every other anomaly response unit on maximum alert. Hill, prepare the Advanced Observation Protocol. We need to know every breath that kid takes."
A Gleaming, Hidden Room (HYDRA)
The mood in the HYDRA room was one of contained excitement. While the world descended into chaos, they saw opportunity.
"The veil has been torn away," the leader's distorted voice echoed. "Humanity has seen the future, and it is mutant. They are afraid. And fear is the best fertilizer for our cause."
"The 'Engineer's' power is the key," added the severe woman. "Imagine not just one, but hundreds of our agents with this capability. Instant power projection. Impeccable war logistics. He is not a weapon; he is a complete arsenal in a single mind."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. will hesitate. Xavier will try to protect him with his failed dreams," the authoritative voice concluded. "We will act. Activate all our assets within the Department of Defense. I want the X-Mansion under 24-hour surveillance. And prepare the Z-47 Submission Serum. We will not kill the gunsmith. We will own the workshop. Hail HYDRA."
Colonel William Stryker's Office
Stryker wasn't watching the news. He was on his knees, praying. When he rose, his eyes burned with prophetic fervor.
"It is the Purification," he declared to his team. "God is clearing the path. He showed the face of the true enemy. They are not just mutants... they are sorcerers, necromancers, demons! That 'angel' healer? A counterfeit! A lure to lead the weak-spirited astray!"
He grabbed a report. "The Pentagon is in pandemonium. They saw their conventional military power reduced to nothing. They are ready to listen to radical solutions. Project: Wide Awake is the only answer. We need a weapon that can hunt not just flesh and blood, but phantoms and sorcery. Something pure. Something blessed. Something that can purify."
Trask Industries
Bolivar Trask was surrounded by screens showing the destruction in Harlem, but a triumphant smile was plastered on his face. His phone rang non-stop.
"They saw!" he exclaimed to his engineers, who looked stunned. "The whole world saw I was right! A single mutant can do that! Our Sentinels are no longer a proposal; they are a necessity!"
He pointed to the P.E.K.K.A. on the screen. "Look at that! It's beautiful! It's terrifying! It's the gold standard against which we will be measured! The Mark II needs to be bigger, stronger, smarter. Integrate sonic weapons to deal with those apparitions. Develop sensors that can track dimensional signatures. The market has just exploded, gentlemen. And we are the only sellers."
A Fortress in an Unknown Location
Magneto watched the global media coverage, a wine glass in his hand. He wasn't smiling, but there was deep satisfaction in his eyes.
"Charles's dream is dead," he declared to Mystique. "Dead in the ruins of Harlem. They can no longer hide us. They can no longer marginalize us. They saw one of us not only face one of their monsters but command an army that redefines war itself."
He saw the image of Kael confronting Ross. "He showed them that we are not just fugitives or terrorists. We are nations. We are armies. He showed strength, and the world responded not with understanding, but with fear. As always."
"And now?" asked Mystique.
"Now, we prepare," Magneto replied. "The hysteria will grow. The humans, in their dread, will do something stupid. And when Charles's house of cards collapses, we will be there to offer the 'Engineer' a place where his power will not be feared, but celebrated. Where he will be an architect of a new world, not a soldier in a dying one."
Tony Stark's Workshop, Malibu
Tony Stark had at least twelve screens open. Energy analyses, citizen videos, leaked S.H.I.E.L.D. reports, and a feed from Ellen's talk show where a paranormal expert debated a priest about the nature of the Healers.
"Looks like the genie's out of the bottle, JARVIS," Tony said, rubbing his chin.
"Indeed, sir. The probability of maintaining secrecy about the 'Harlem' event is now 0.00015%."
"The kid has style, I'll give him that. Facing the Abomination, facing Ross... and that metal dick is absolutely terrifying. Loved it." He zoomed in on an image of the Archers. "They're... stylish too. Green outfits, purple hair. I like the look."
"Sir, Senator Kinsey is demanding immediate military action against the X-Mansion."
Tony rolled his eyes. "Politicians. They see a hammer and think every problem is a nail." He got serious for a moment, watching the Healer in action. "But the healing tech... that changes everything, JARVIS. Everything. Schedule a meeting with Professor X. Discreet. I think Iron Man needs to have a chat with our new... 'Engineer'. Before someone less pleasant does."
---
X-Mansion, Later That Day - The Meeting
The atmosphere in the mansion's conference room was grim. Fury and anxiety were almost tangible. Charles Xavier, at the head of the table, was the picture of forced serenity, but the minds around him whispered storms of anger and worry.
"They were... persistent," Xavier began, his calm voice masking the cold fury that Jean and other telepaths could feel clouding his mind. "The Secretary of Defense, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., representatives from... certain shadowy agencies. The calls didn't stop all night."
He paused, allowing the weight of his words to hang in the air.
"The demands are, in essence, the same. They refer to Kael as an 'omega-level strategic asset' and an 'existential threat'. They demand his immediate surrender for 'risk assessment' and 'preventive containment'."
A low growl came from Logan's throat. "Risk assessment, my ass! They want to take him apart on the operating table! Turn him into a weapon for them!"
Cyclops clenched his fist so hard his knuckles cracked. "After what he did? He saved thousands! He helped us save even more! He faced that monster when their army was useless!"
"He demonstrated a power that terrifies them, Scott," Jean Grey replied, her voice laden with sadness. "They don't see a savior. They see a god of war they don't control. And to them, an uncontrolled power is a power that must be eliminated or possessed."
Storm, sitting next to Kael, placed a firm hand on his arm. Her eyes shimmered with the fury of a gathering storm. "He shamed them. Challenged their authority publicly. That is the unforgivable sin. They can tolerate mutants who hide or who fight for their approval. But one who stands up and says 'no' and has the power to back it up? That is an anarchy they cannot accept."
It was then that Kael, who had remained silent, watching the parade of frustration and fear, let out a laugh.
It was a dry laugh, humorless, laden with deep contempt and ancestral weariness. All eyes turned to him.
"So that's it," he said, his voice clear, cutting through the tension like a blade. "That's what they think of us. Of all of us. No matter how many we save, how many lives we preserve. Deep down, to them, we will always be weapons, beasts, or mad gods. Never people. Never equals."
He looked at Xavier, his bitter smile disappearing, replaced by a practical resignation.
"But don't waste your energy on their anger, Professor. Don't worry about their 'demands'." He stood up, his red cloak swaying gently. "Instead, prepare. Prepare the mansion. Prepare for an attack. It may come today, it may come tomorrow. But it will come. They cannot let what happened in Harlem go unanswered. Their authority was publicly broken, and they need to fix it, no matter the cost."
The expression on Charles's face was one of deep, familiar pain. The initial anger had given way to a heavy sadness. The eyes of Scott, Logan, Storm, and the others told the same old story. This was not new. It was the same old conflict, just scaled to cosmic levels.
"Unfortunately, Kael," said Xavier, his voice laden with the weight of decades of struggle, "you are right. This is not the first time the mansion has been a target. And I fear it will not be the last."
Kael simply nodded, his decision made. Without another word, he turned and left the room, his hooded figure a solitary silhouette against the door.
He didn't go to his room. He walked out into the expansive gardens, looking at the trees that marked the property. The peace was an illusion, a fragile veil about to be torn.
Closing his eyes, he entered his Village. His command was clear and specific to the Army Camps: stop all current production and redeploy all existing troops. Barbarians, Giants, Golems - all were dissolved from their posts and relocated within the boundaries of the spiritual dimension. In their place, the urgent and massive training of Level 6 Archers began.
When the last soldier was replaced, Kael opened his eyes in the real world and summoned them.
One by one, they began to materialize in absolute silence throughout the gardens, woods, and rooftops of the property. Dozens, then hundreds. They were not loud like the Barbarians. They were elegant, deadly shadows. Their short green dresses blended with the foliage, their purple hair swaying gently at shoulder length. The gold tiara with the purple jewel on their foreheads seemed to glow with a soft inner light, their sharp eyes scanning the environment with supernatural precision.
He positioned them in a wide, overlapping perimeter around the entire X-Mansion. Their senses, enhanced to the extreme, became a living, impenetrable security network. Through them, he could feel the property. He could hear the whispered conversation of two students in the mutant kindergarten a kilometer away, see the wing of a hummingbird beating in the air on the other side of the property.
Nothing would get through. Nothing would approach without him knowing.
Satisfied with the surveillance scheme, Kael mentally returned to his Village and restarted the production of his normal army - Barbarians, Giants, and all the other standard Army Camp troops. The Archers would remain in the real world as sentinels, while his main army would be replenished within the dimension, ready to be summoned when needed.
He looked at the mansion, no longer a refuge, but a citadel under siege. They would come. And when they did, the purple-eyed Archers would see them coming, and the "Engineer" would be waiting, with his Village troops reorganized and his Arena cards ready for combat. The game had changed forever.
Part 2: Time and Iron
Kael closed the door to his room at the X-Mansion. The outside world—with its political demands and tensions—was left behind. He needed time, and his dimension gave him exactly that: while one hour passed in the real world, sixty hours unfolded inside his Village.
He sat on the bed, closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he was in the heart of his spiritual kingdom. The air smelled of sawdust and hot metal. Here, he wasn't a weapon or a threat, but an architect.
He had discovered he could put all his Builders on a single construction, drastically speeding up the process. In recent "days" (within his dimension), he had dedicated himself to upgrades he had neglected. But this came at a cost. To obtain the necessary resources, he repeatedly attacked the Goblin villages in campaign mode. A twinge of pity touched his heart seeing those green creatures constantly defeated, their resources looted to fuel his own expansion. It was a brutal but necessary cycle.
Tired after what felt like weeks of work, he walked to the beach of his village. There, a common yet captivating scene unfolded. Sitting on the sand were an Archer, a Barbarian, and a Hog Rider with his massive hog. The Hog Rider, scratched his head, looking at the sea.
"What do you think is on the other side?" the Hog Rider asked, his high-pitched voice echoing.
The Barbarian looked at the waves, then at his sword. Suddenly, he stood up with a roar and ran towards the water, brandishing his weapon as if attacking the ocean itself, disappearing beneath the waves.
The Hog Rider watched the spot, blinking slowly. Then, he pointed to a small wooden boat anchored nearby. "Or... we could use that boat," he said, with an absurd innocence that made Kael laugh. The comedic scene eased his tired mind.
The upgrade of the Town Hall to Level 6 had unlocked new paths. He got into the boat, which immediately set off. In an instant, the sunny landscape gave way to a gloomy twilight. He was now in the Master Builder's Village.
It was an abandoned, damaged place. The Villagers who accompanied him guided him through what seemed to be a tutorial. He repaired the Master Builder's Hut, and from it emerged the sleepy figure of the Master Builder, wearing overalls and holding a hammer.
"Ah, the new boss. Time to work," he grumbled.
Kael then repaired the Barracks. Immediately, a new troop became available: the Raged Barbarian. To his surprise, as soon as it appeared, the Raged Barbarian charged uncontrollably towards a nearby Goblin village without any order. The autonomy of the troops here was startling.
He spent the next subjective "weeks" upgrading this village, raising it to Level 3. This unlocked all the initial troops of this branch of his power. Back in his main Village, he tried once more to attack other players' villages, but the option simply didn't exist for him. Frustrated but resigned, he explored the Clans function.
He created a lonely clan, "Children of the Aether," and unlocked the Clan Capital. His perspective changed: he now viewed everything from an Airship, hovering over a majestic mountain where only the Capital Peak at the top glowed, indicating his solitary presence. He began upgrading it, feeling a passive trickle of Gold entering the treasury. He wondered if he could do Raids, but intuited that he couldn't—his power was solitary by nature.
Before returning to the real world, he decided to test one of the new troops from the Master Builder's Village. He concentrated and, without any Elixir cost—since the village troops did not use that resource to be summoned—he summoned a Sneaky Archer directly into his room in the real world.
He felt her presence materializing near the window. He knew exactly where she was, her posture, her alert state. But he couldn't see her. She was a blot of absolute emptiness, a gap in reality. A smile of satisfaction appeared on his face. The tactical potential was immense. Mentally, he ordered her to dissipate, and the invisible presence vanished.
Finally, he returned his consciousness to the real world. Only five hours had passed outside, but his mind carried the fatigue of weeks of work. Physically, however, he was impeccable, sustained by the Elixir flowing in his veins.
He left his room to stretch his legs. As he descended the stairs, he kept part of his mind connected to the surveillance network of the Level 6 Archers positioned around the property.
Through them, he sensed subtle movements in the forest. They were professionals—Colonel Stryker's team on reconnaissance. Then, he detected something coming from the sky: a high-speed object. Based on its size and energy signature, it wasn't a Sentinel. It was Tony Stark.
This surprised him. Perhaps it was good news. Having Iron Man here could be useful when the inevitable attack occurred. He noticed that Stryker's agents seemed unaware of Stark's arrival—Tony knew how to be stealthy when he wanted.
He headed to the main entrance, where Professor Xavier, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, and others were already gathered, looking at the sky. The meeting had been arranged.
"How long was I out?" Kael asked Ororo.
"Five hours," she replied, examining him with concern. "Were you in your village all this time?"
"Yes," he admitted. "I'm fine. It's a mental fatigue, like studying for days on end. But physically, I'm in perfect condition."
The sound of Iron Man's thrusters filled the air. The red and gold armor descended smoothly into the courtyard. The visor opened, revealing Tony Stark's confident face.
"Professor," Tony greeted Xavier, before his gaze landed on Kael. "And you must be the famous 'Engineer'. The one-man army. I saw the videos. Impressive."
Kael looked at Tony's outstretched hand, then into his eyes. There was curiosity and assessment there. He smiled, a tired but genuine smile, and shook Iron Man's hand.
"Well," Kael said, his voice calm. "That's me."