Energy synergy to restart the main control, a covert contest among three factions
Gwen Stacy didn't read aloud the small etched text.
She straightened up, brushed the dust off her fingertips, and remained calm.
"The Control Console isn't dead," she said. "The terminal deepest inside is in standby mode. It's the one running the protocol, and the key to stop it is also on it."
"Then let's go," Hela said.
"It won't open." Gwen Stacy scanned the Data Pad against the back of the terminal. "Triple power interface. Death Force, Chaos Magic, and Psychic Power —three energies must be injected simultaneously, none can be missing. The designer of this partition has given three keys to three types of people."
There was a moment of silence in the Main Control Room.
Wanda stared silently at the number, half-covered in gray. She had also caught a glimpse of the last three letters. It was the Management Committee's standard number, bearing Lynn's personal mark. From the day the foundation was laid, someone had been leaving the door open for that man at this branch office, buried deep in the Abandoned Timeline.
Whose door was left open? She didn't ask. Even if she did, Gwen Stacy wouldn't answer.
"Three energies," Jean Grey spoke first, "I'll contribute my Psychic Power."
"Wait." Hela raised her hand. "How much to inject, who goes first, who watches whose interface—these things aren't agreed upon. I won't interfere."
"Is the Director afraid that I'll take the opportunity to inject more magic and take over the terminal first?" Wanda, looking at her.
"I'm afraid someone's hands will tremble," Hela said calmly. "Just now, on the Archive Cabinet, wasn't the minister also worried that my hands would tremble?"
Qin sneered. "Since you two don't trust each other, I'll take the lead. I'll use my Psychic Power to coordinate, and I'll know exactly which of your energies has more or less after passing through my hands."
"Through your hands?" Wanda's fingertips Scarlet. "You went through it all, and you know exactly what's stored in the terminal. The Special Envoy's plan is quite shrewd."
"Keep your mouth shut." Natasha straightened up from the control panel. "The Light Membrane is getting closer. Gentlemen, in the time it takes to argue, this room will shrink three inches."
Everyone turned around. The Dark Teal Light Patterns had indeed pressed in further, and even the slowest ones on the east wall had already passed the base of the Control Console.
Gwen Stacy crouched down, lifted the access cover on the side of the terminal, revealing three ports side by side.
"Let's establish a set of rules," she said. "The three of us will inject simultaneously, and my reading will be the final one. When I call 'start,' we all start; when I call 'stop,' we all stop. No one can add a single point, and no one can subtract a single point. The reading is on my board, witnessed by all three parties, and cannot be falsified."
"You?" Hela raised an eyebrow.
"I'm the supervisor." Gwen Stacy met her gaze. "According to the Management Committee's bylaws, technical decisions for joint operations are made by the supervisor, the Director."
"It's Lynn again." After those two words were uttered, none of the three responded.
"Okay," Wanda agreed first, "But let me make this clear beforehand. If there's even the slightest bias in the readings, Director Gwen Stacy, once you leave this room, the Department of Technology will have to review your report."
"I'm always ready to serve you."
Hela, leaning on her sword, walked to the left-hand entrance. "I'll see if this broken door recognizes my divine power."
Qin stood still on the right, the golden light in her palms condensing into a line.
The three took their positions. Natasha stepped back half a step, her hands hanging at her sides, fingertips three inches from the holster—not to protect against the outside, but to protect against the inside.
"Get up," Gwen Stacy said.
Three streams of energy simultaneously flowed into the interface.
The indicator light on the terminal lit up, and a dark blue startup pattern appeared on the screen. The Light Membrane on the four walls of the Main Control Room paused and then stopped shrinking.
"Stay calm." Gwen Stacy stared at the readings. "Keep it up."
Hela's divine power was deep and slow, pushing forward bit by bit. She held back 70%. The humiliation she suffered at the Archive Cabinet earlier was still lingering in her mind. This section was clearly designed by Lynn, so she had to reserve some strength in case something unexpected popped up in the terminal.
Wanda's magic was fine and dense, following the inner wall of the interface. She didn't use her full strength. As the Chaos Magic was injected, a very thin wisp of Scarlet probed deep into the terminal along the energy flow, trying to find the bottom of the Recognition Layer —what she couldn't find on the cabinet, she wanted to find on the Control Console.
Jean's Psychic Power was the quietest, almost too quiet. Her mental energy, wrapped around the other two energies, passed through them inch by inch. She silently memorized the astringent smell of death in Hela power and the restless Scarlet in Wanda's magic. The wisp of Wanda reaching towards the Recognition Layer did not escape her perception either.
"Minister Wanda," Jean suddenly spoke, her eyes still closed, "Your magic has gone astray."
"The Special Envoy is meddling too much." Wanda remained unfazed, but the Scarlet on her face only deepened. "I'll build my roads, you look at your watches."
"There are three energies on the chart, and two of them are hidden within yours." Jean opened her eyes. "Director Gwen Stacy, do the readings match?"
Gwen Stacy looked down at the whiteboard. Wanda's total was exactly as listed—the extra amount was taken from her own share, making the accounts perfectly balanced.
"The total amount is compliant," Gwen Stacy. "I'm in charge of the total amount, not the methods."
"Well said, 'Managing the total amount' is quite something." Qin smiled, the golden light in her palm slightly darkening. "Then I'll repair the roads too."
A wisp of her Psychic Power slowly and deliberately clung to Wanda's Scarlet, neither stopping nor touching, but simply following. Wherever you touch, I will see.
Hela sensed the subtle connection between the two energies and snorted coldly. "Are you two opening a door, or engaging in a magical duel?"
"The Director can also get involved," Wanda said.
"I don't have the time for that," Hela said, but a thread of her divine power quietly slid down to the lowest level of the interface—she wasn't going to take over the Recognition Layer, she was going to check the power supply records. The power supply records clearly showed who this terminal had opened doors for over the decades.
The three forces operate independently within the terminal, maintaining a seemingly stable surface while simultaneously exploring their own paths beneath, neither daring to clash with the others nor yielding to one another.
Gwen Stacy stared at the readings, her fingertips hovering over the panel, motionless. She could see it. The waveforms on all three channels were trembling subtly, trembling with perfect precision, all perfectly within the compliance lines. These three, even their stealth was done in accordance with regulations.
She didn't say anything.
Natasha stood to the side, watching everything unfold. Her lips twitched, but she said nothing.
"Ninety percent," Gwen Stacy reported. "The last paragraph, the three of you, gather your attention. At this critical juncture of terminal restart, a single disruption in energy flow will render all our previous efforts futile."
The three undercurrents simultaneously paused, reluctantly retreating.
"Ten percent."
With a soft hum, the terminal's screen lit up. The dark blue lines on the four walls of the Light Membrane faded away layer by layer, the contraction stopped, and the film surface remained fixed three feet away from the wall, neither advancing nor retreating.
"The fault line is frozen." Gwen Stacy breathed a sigh of relief. "The agreement is suspended. We won't die for now."
"For now." Hela sheathed her sword. "What about the exit?"
"Checking." Gwen Stacy's finger had just touched the screen when the screen suddenly jumped up on its own.
She didn't order it.
Deep within the terminal, a dormant process was awakened by the aftershocks of the restart. Directly above the Main Control Room, a dusty projector clicked and spun around, its beam of light hitting the white wall opposite.
A Holographic Image silently lit up.
The scene is old, covered in snow. There is a table and two chairs in the picture.
One person was sitting in one of the chairs.
The man's face was turned to the side, his expression cold and unfamiliar. He held a document with a red glow between his fingers and slowly pushed it across the table.
Everyone present recognized that face.
It's Lynn.