Power and ability

New York, one week later.

The city seemed to possess an astonishing capacity to heal itself-or perhaps amnesia. Although the upheaval in Washington dominated every major news outlet's headlines, life went on for New Yorkers, and the lights on Stark Tower's top floor still burned all night. There were simply more police patrolling the streets, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia had become something of a taboo overnight.

Queens, S.C.U. secret base.

In the auto repair shop's basement, the air purifier ran at full power, trying to draw out the lingering smells of ozone and blood.

Zhao Fan stood shirtless before a full-length mirror. Almost none of the flesh reflected in it was unmarked. Fresh pink skin crisscrossed old scars like a gruesome map.

[Constitution: exceptional (recovery progress: 85%)]

[Energy reserves: moderate]

"You're recovering even faster than I expected." Evelyn's voice came from behind him. Today she wore a dark gray business suit, looking more capable than she had on the battlefield-and more... like a bureaucrat.

"Thanks to your nutrient solution." Zhao Fan pulled on a black T-shirt and turned around. "How are things outside?"

"A mess." Evelyn walked to the holographic table and brought up a complicated map of the competing factions. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has fallen apart. You know that. The question now is who takes over the mess."

On the map, the blue territory representing S.H.I.E.L.D. had fractured, replaced by numerous colors: green for the military, gray for the government, and... gold for Stark Industries.

"Tony Stark is using his legal team and influence to try to recover all technology connected to Stark Industries." Evelyn pointed at the ruined area of Washington. "But the military, especially that General Ross, is like a shark smelling blood. They want to take over every 'special asset' S.H.I.E.L.D. left behind."

"And we're caught in the middle." Zhao Fan pulled out a chair and sat down. "D.O.D.C. must be in an awkward position right now."

"Quite the opposite." A meaningful smile curled Evelyn's lips. "We're the hot commodity now."

She opened a document bearing the joint seals of the United Nations and the United States government.

"Since S.H.I.E.L.D. proved to be riddled with Hydra infiltrators, no existing intelligence agency can be fully trusted. As for D.O.D.C... although we used to serve as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s front, during this Project Insight incident, we had already supplied a crucial list of Hydra personnel, and under your leadership, we 'bravely' assisted with the cleanup..."

"So that makes us 'clean'?" Old Dog walked over with a bottle of cold beer, looking incredulous. "The world really has changed. We ended up being the heroes."

"Watch your wording, Advisor Jose." Evelyn glanced at him, her tone carrying a hint of warning, but more resignation. "In any case, D.O.D.C. is being reorganized. We'll shed our former semi-affiliated status and no longer answer to S.H.I.E.L.D. Instead, we'll become a more independent federal enforcement agency specializing in the aftermath of superhuman battles and hazardous material recovery."

"D.O.D.C. is going independent. What does that mean?" Benjamin poked his head out from behind the pile of servers, his hair a bird's nest and light reflecting off his glasses. "A raise?"

"It means we'll have legal law enforcement authority, a larger budget, and..." Evelyn looked at Zhao Fan. "Priority rights to handle all 'battlefield remnants.'"

Zhao Fan narrowed his eyes.

That meant all the "trash" across the battlefield was now nominally under their jurisdiction.

"What's the price?" Zhao Fan asked. "They wouldn't hand us such a big slice of the pie for nothing."

"The price is extremely strict oversight. The military, the government, and Stark will all station personnel within D.O.D.C. to establish a three-way system of checks and balances. Every recovered item must be warehoused and registered, and all technical analyses must be shared," Evelyn said evenly.

Here, she paused, a hint of cunning flashing in her eyes. "But as you know, there's enormous room to maneuver between 'warehousing' and 'registration.' I'm the technical director and Stark's representative. With a slight... adjustment to the parameters somewhere in that process, plenty of things can be 'destroyed' or 'impossible to analyze.'"

Zhao Fan smiled. That was why he valued Evelyn.

"Evelyn, you need to visit Stark Tower in the next couple of days." Zhao Fan tapped lightly on the table. "Tony Stark must be overwhelmed right now. He needs someone to help deal with all the Stark technology that leaked out because of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s security breach. This is our best opportunity to get more resources from him."

Evelyn gave Zhao Fan a long look. "You only just came back from death's door, and you're already scheming against Iron Man?"

"In this world, you either scheme or get schemed against," Zhao Fan said calmly. "Besides, I think he'll be happy to pay this 'cleaning fee.'"

"All right, I'll talk to him." Evelyn nodded, then changed the subject. "Also, we're responsible for cleaning up that huge crater in Washington."

She sighed and pointed at a satellite image of the Potomac River. "The wreckage of three Helicarriers, plus half the city caught in the destruction-that's tens of thousands of tons of highly hazardous waste. The military can't touch it because the government won't let them. The government can't touch it because they lack specialized handling experience. Stark wants to, but public opinion has tied his hands. All three parties are deadlocked, and we happen to be the ideal cleanup crew."

"So we're wiping their asses again," Old Dog summed up, tilting his head back for a swig of beer.

"No." Zhao Fan rose and walked to the map, his fingers brushing the red circle marking Washington's ruins.

In his eyes, those weren't ruins. They were a mountain of gold.

There were dozens of crashed Quinjets, countless advanced Hydra weapons, the reactor wreckage of three Helicarriers, and perhaps even... other advanced technology that remained undiscovered.

"Take the assignment." Zhao Fan turned to Evelyn, ambition burning in his eyes. "Deploy everyone in D.O.D.C. I want absolute control over those ruins. S.C.U. will handle the core area."

"I've already applied for you." Evelyn seemed to have anticipated his response. "But there's one condition. The military and government have each assigned an 'observer' to accompany us and supervise."

"Who?"

"I don't know who the government is sending, but the military's man is Brock Rumlow," Evelyn said, giving him a name. "Although he was badly wounded and disfigured in that battle, he's still the highest-ranking surviving tactical commander. The official story is that he was 'fighting Hydra' at the time."

"Rumlow..." Zhao Fan sneered.

Crossbones, Hydra's die-hard enforcer. Apparently, not only had the man survived the chaos, he had successfully whitewashed himself-or rather, the military needed a vicious dog like him.

"Looks like our cleanup won't be too lonely." Zhao Fan clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking. "Perfect. I didn't get a chance to give him a proper greeting last time."

Night deepened. The rain in Queens had stopped, but dampness still shrouded the sleepless city.

After Evelyn Reed left, silence returned to the underground base beneath the repair shop. Old Dog Jose was already clutching his empty bottle on the couch, snoring like thunder. For this veteran who had spent half his life scrambling through ruins, as long as he still drew breath, sleep was the greatest pleasure. Benjamin was still tirelessly typing code before the holographic screen, its blue light reflected in his thick lenses like two ghostly flames.

Zhao Fan did not sleep. Alone, he entered the innermost soundproof training room. Benjamin had modified it again, adding thicker acoustic padding and lead sheets to the surrounding walls. It was the perfect secluded chamber for Zhao Fan to examine his mind and body.

He stood barefoot on the cold concrete. The chill crept up through his soles, cooling his brain slightly from the relentless heat of the Extremis virus.

"Whew..."

Zhao Fan exhaled slowly. His breath actually condensed into a visible cloud of white mist, laced with exceedingly tiny sparks that flickered out in an instant.

He walked to a huge, full-length blast-resistant mirror in the center of the room and examined his reflection.

It was a nearly perfect physique. Streamlined muscles covered his bones, neither bulky nor exaggerated, yet brimming with explosive strength. But to Zhao Fan, this body resembled a patchwork map, recording his frenzied months of "feeding."

System, display my detailed physical status, he instructed silently.

Pale blue streams of data cascaded across his retinas. A panel visible only to him appeared in the air.

[Host: Zhao Fan]

[Species: human]

[Status: stable (Improved Extremis Virus has achieved dynamic equilibrium)]

[Core abilities:]

Extremis Virus (improved, high-tier): grants the host powerful self-healing, thermal energy manipulation, and physical attributes beyond those of ordinary humans.

Hard Carapace (active/passive): derived from a Hydra parasitic organism. Generates a high-density biological keratin layer beneath the skin that can withstand conventional small-arms fire. When actively triggered, defense rises to D+ rank.

Kinetic Repulsion: allows repulsive force to be used as naturally as breathing for absorption, defense, cushioning, and even precise internal destruction and shaping.

Weak Energy Perception: sensing radius of 500 meters. Can distinguish target types through energy wavelengths.

Phase Blink (incomplete): derived from radiation emitted by a Cosmic Cube fragment. Currently permits only phase movement within 0.1 seconds.

Precision Throwing: allows precise throws at targets. Range, speed, and force can increase as physical capabilities improve.

Mental Pressure (low-level)-you can release a mental shock to briefly intimidate or control creatures of low intelligence.

Bioelectric Burst-you can convert the biological energy within your body into high-voltage arcs and release them.

Zhao Fan raised his right hand with a slight shift of thought.

His normally colored arm instantly turned crimson, as though magma flowed beneath the skin. Then a black keratin membrane covered it, red and black interwoven like the talons of a demon from hell.

An ordinary person would long since have collapsed into a puddle of flesh from genetic breakdown. Yet he had not only survived, but broken them down and fused them together.

"Still too mixed." Zhao Fan frowned at the hideous hand in the mirror. "Like a modified car with every good part crammed under the hood. Plenty of horsepower, but it could fall apart at any moment."

He could feel the burden on his body growing exponentially with each additional ability. Especially after forcibly absorbing the Leviathan's energy: although his energy had surged, it had also left his nervous system perpetually taut and overloaded.

He needed a core.

A true "heart" capable of governing all the chaotic energy inside him.

Zhao Fan drew a deep breath, closed his eyes, and sank his consciousness into the hazy gray [System Space] he had unlocked only recently.

It was a space of absolute stasis measuring just one cubic meter.

At the center of this cramped yet sacred domain floated the prize he had risked his life to snatch from the wreckage of the three Helicarriers-

[Next-Generation Repulsor Engine Core]

It was like a sleeping god.

It was a cylindrical device approximately forty centimeters in diameter, its casing made of high-strength titanium alloy and some unknown transparent polymer. Through the casing, he could see the reactor within, still emitting a faint blue glow even in dormancy.

It was the crystallization of Tony Stark's genius, a power source originally intended to propel a Helicarrier weighing tens of thousands of tons through suborbital cruising.

Compared to it, all the Chitauri batteries and Hydra energy cells Zhao Fan had seen before were nothing more than AA batteries in children's toys.

"This is what I need."

Zhao Fan willed it.

Hum-

Space trembled slightly. The heavy core appeared out of thin air in the real world, settling firmly on the alloy workbench before Zhao Fan.

Even on standby, the vast, pure energy field radiating from the core made every cell in Zhao Fan's body scream with longing. It was the instinctive greed of a lower life-form confronted with a superior energy source.

"System, analyze this item." Zhao Fan forcibly suppressed the urge to pounce on it and "devour" it, issuing the command calmly.

[Analyzing S-rank technological creation...]

[Analysis progress: 1%... 5%...]

[Warning: this item possesses extremely high energy density and is equipped with Stark Industries' highest-level dual physical/software anti-tampering mechanisms. Forced disassembly will result in direct energy release.]

"A rose with thorns, just as expected." Zhao Fan gently brushed his fingers over the core's cold casing, feeling the pulse-like rhythm within.

Although his body was formidable now, trying to absorb this reactor directly as he would a battery could end only one way: he would burst instantly, becoming a human-shaped nuclear bomb and wiping all of Queens off the map.

[System recommendation: do not devour directly. You may attempt "energy guidance" and an "external link."]

"External link?" Zhao Fan caught the key phrase.

He did not want to turn himself into a robot. He did not want to cut a hole in his chest and stuff a reactor inside like Iron Man.

But energy was universal.

"System, what if I use this core as the energy hub for equipment outside my body, while using its leaking energy field to 'nurture' and 'temper' my body, like... a spirit-gathering formation in cultivation novels?" Zhao Fan proposed a bold idea.

[Simulating...]

[Proposal feasibility: high.]

[Prerequisites: 1. Vibranium-grade energy-conducting material; 2. An external chassis capable of withstanding the core's output.]

Zhao Fan's eyes lit up.

He already had a lead on vibranium.

As for the external chassis...

He looked at the tattered "experimental lightweight exoskeleton" hanging on the nearby rack. Evelyn had given it to him earlier, and after the battle in Washington, it was nearly scrap.

"Hopefully that huge crater in Washington has a few surprises for me," Zhao Fan murmured.

Three Helicarriers lay buried there. There were countless specialized alloys, Stark Industries' finest servo motors, and all kinds of black-tech weapons Hydra had stolen.

He would build himself a unique suit of armor. A suit that could perfectly complement his physical abilities, amplify [Kinetic Repulsion], and bear the power of this "Next-Generation Core"-a suit of slaughter armor.

"Evelyn wants power and status. Old Dog wants money and stability. Ben wants technology and challenges."

Zhao Fan put the heavy core back into System Space.

"And me? I want to evolve."

He walked to the workbench and picked up a blueprint: the Helicarrier structural diagram Benjamin had cracked earlier. Taking a pen, Zhao Fan drew several heavy circles around positions originally designated as "armories" and "laboratories."

There was also something else in the Helicarrier wreckage he had to obtain: the batch of "phase-change energy weapons" Hydra had developed using the Tesseract.

If he could analyze those weapons, perhaps his [Phase Blink] ability could be completed. It would no longer be a barely useful skill that only shifted him half a meter, but true-spatial jumping.

"Knock, knock."

The knocking interrupted Zhao Fan's thoughts.

"Come in." Zhao Fan put away the blueprint and grabbed a shirt, draping it over himself.

The door opened, and Old Dog entered. The old fellow rubbed his sleepy eyes, still carrying his trademark bottle, his gaze somewhat unfocused.

"Fan, still awake?" Old Dog looked at Zhao Fan, then at the blueprint covered in red circles. "Still thinking about that huge crater?"

"This is big business, Old Dog." Zhao Fan turned and leaned against the workbench.

"I know." Old Dog sighed and found an ammunition crate to sit on. "But I have to remind you, this time is different. Evelyn was right. That Rumlow... Crossbones. He's a mad dog. I heard about him back in the underworld. When he was with S.H.I.E.L.D., his methods were dirtier than a terrorist's."

"And," Old Dog paused, his tone turning serious, "I heard that although he survived that building collapse, his nervous system was badly damaged. He can't feel pain now. The military fitted him with a bunch of experimental assistive prosthetics so he could keep working. He's a killing machine that can't feel pain."

"Can't feel pain?" Zhao Fan chuckled, a trace of contempt flashing in his eyes.

In this world, there were no people who could not feel pain, only people who had not been hurt enough.

"Perfect." Zhao Fan walked over and patted Old Dog's shoulder. "We're cleaners. Taking apart broken machines is what we do best."

"Come on, let's sleep. Tomorrow's business can wait until tomorrow."

Zhao Fan's voice echoed through the spacious basement.