Ye Mo leaned against the main control panel, his fingers still sliding across the terminal, saving the test parameters of " Regenerative Phasing " into an encrypted folder. The time in the lower right corner of the screen jumped to 6:17 AM. The base was so quiet that the soft hum of airflow in the ventilation ducts could be heard. He raised his hand to rub his temples, his head still feeling a little heavy, as if last night's training had shortened his nerve endings.
Emma Frost stood beside him, holding a data tablet in her hand. She traced a few lines on the surface with her fingertips and handed it to him. " Telepathy calibration model. Take this and try it out. Don't always try to fool people with your words."
"I call this tactical misdirection." Ye Mo took the board and casually stuffed it into his pocket. "Besides, last time I blocked the EMP shockwave with my own strength."
"Slipping three meters away counts as skill?" Bucky poked his head out of the armory door, his robotic arm clicking and clacking as it checked its interfaces. "If you hadn't crashed into the bunker, that thing would have blown up the control panel already."
"That's called precise prediction." Ye Mo rolled his eyes. "The system told me I had to sacrifice the aesthetics of my posture at that moment."
"No system." Captain America's voice came from the monitor screen. He was replaying the footage of the fifth round of blind control training, pausing on the frame where the three successfully flanked the enemy. "You just don't want to admit it—you're actually quite reliable."
Ye Mo grinned but didn't reply. He knew that what sounded like a compliment was actually a warning: don't play dumb for too long; when it's time to step up, you have to.
Black Widow sat at the communications station, her headset already on, and reassembled the gun she had half-disassembled, her movements as practiced as breathing. She glanced at Ye Mo and said calmly, "Next time the 'system prompt' tells you to rush forward, remember to check for landmines first."
"With you guys here, what do I have to fear from landmines?" Ye Mo shrugged. "At most, I'll slip on a banana peel and end up in a hero-saves-the-damsel-in-distress scene."
Emma Frost gave a soft hum, turned and walked to the other side of the control panel, activating the Mental Network's full-area scan program. A blue light flashed in her pupils for a moment, then returned to normal. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and whispered, "No abnormal heartbeats within thirty meters, imposter model archived, interference curtain signal stable."
"This peace seems a bit fake." Bucky walked over and stood next to her. "The last wave of fighting only ended a dozen hours ago; Hydra can't possibly have quieted down so quickly."
"Maybe they're having a meeting discussing how to write resignation letters," Ye Mo said, having already taken off his usual silver half-rimmed glasses and put on a pair of black tactical lenses. With a press of the temple, his vision immediately switched to thermal imaging mode, and a line of small print popped up in the corner: Scanning Wave power 72%, electrolyte replenishment recommended.
He was about to make a joke when he suddenly stopped.
It felt like being pricked between his eyebrows by a red-hot needle; it didn't hurt, but it was extremely sudden. He subconsciously raised his hand to press his temple, his breathing slowing down a beat.
"What's wrong?" Emma Frost opened her eyes and immediately noticed that something was wrong with him.
Ye Mo didn't answer; instead, he closed his eyes. He disconnected the terminal, shut down all external signal inputs, and allowed only the perception module on the 20th layer of the " Gene Spiral Tower " to run independently. The high-sensitivity Scanning Wave spread out silently, like an invisible net, slowly reaching towards the sky.
One second, two seconds.
The fluctuation occurred in the third second.
It wasn't from the ground, nor was it the lukewarm tremor left over from Mutants abilities. This thing came suddenly and violently, like someone in the depths of space suddenly smashing down a wall. The frequency was absurdly chaotic, the intensity fluctuating without any regularity, carrying an almost violent spatial tremor.
He suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints.
"It wasn't a drill, nor was it a false alarm." He lowered his voice, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear, "Something exploded in space."
All four of them turned to look at him at the same time.
Captain America's finger hovered above the control panel button, neither pressing nor moving it. Black Widow's background noise in her headphones automatically turned down to the minimum, her hand already on her holster. Bucky's mechanical arm interface flashed red, entering combat standby mode. Emma Frost didn't speak, but her Mental Network instantly expanded to its maximum extent, like an invisible membrane covering the entire base.
"You mean the universe?" Bucky frowned. "Outer space? Now?"
"Yes." Ye Mo stared at the data stream popping up in the corner of the tactical lens. "This fluctuation... doesn't belong to any known Mutants ability. I compared it with all the gene fragments I've encountered in the database, and they don't match at all. Moreover, it has spatial tearing characteristics, with the frequency fluctuating wildly between 0.8 and 3.5, like some kind of high-dimensional energy entity going out of control."
" S.H.I.E.L.D.. didn't issue a warning?" Black Widow quickly switched to a backup channel, her fingers tapping on the keyboard. "I can't find any reports of space anomalies."
"It's not from Earth," Ye Mo shook his head. "This fluctuation comes from deep space, roughly from the Piscis Austrinus. Its intensity is still increasing. Although it doesn't seem to be attacking, it's unstable and could trigger a chain reaction at any time."
"Do you think it's a weapons test? Or an alien invasion?" Captain America finally spoke, his tone calm, but his eyes had already switched to commander mode.
"Neither." Ye Mo took a deep breath. "It's more like... something has 'loosened.' Like the Fridge cube that's been frozen for ten years suddenly starting to bubble, indicating that what's sealed inside is about to awaken."
"What is it?" Emma Frost asked.
" The Power Stone." He found it absurd even when he uttered those three words. But the data didn't lie—he had never seen a second Infinity Stones with that pure, violent, and almost uncontrollable energy characteristic.
There was a moment of silence in the room.
Bucky glanced at Captain America: "Do we trust him?"
"He has accurately predicted crises seven times in a row." Captain America looked at Ye Mo, "Even if the reason sounds like a science fiction joke."
"I'm not a comedian," Ye Mo said, a slight smirk playing on his lips. "I'm just unlucky; the system had to put me in this situation."
"No system." Captain America repeated, but this time, without waiting for a rebuttal, he directly ordered, "Level One Response Plan activated. Black Widow contacted S.H.I.E.L.D., requesting access to near-Earth orbit monitoring; Bucky inspected flight vehicles and long-range weapon systems; Emma Frost maintained the Mental Network scan to assist in pinpointing the source of the fluctuations; Ye Mo continued to track frequency changes and reported back as needed."
At the command, everyone sprang into action immediately.
Black Widow's fingers flew across the communication panel, her headset switched to an encrypted frequency, and she whispered, "Calling Eagle's Nest, this is Black Widow, requesting access to the Sky Eye Satellite Network, codename ' Dawn '."
Bucky turned and walked toward the equipment area, his robotic arm emitting a series of low hums as it began to synchronously attach external armor modules.
Emma Frost closed her eyes, a thin layer of sweat appearing on her forehead. Her mental energy stretched upwards like a spider web, trying to capture the afterimage of that fluctuation.
Ye Mo stood still, his hands resting on the control panel, the tactical lens constantly updating the data. The fluctuation intensity had climbed from the initial 0.75 to 1.2, and was still slowly rising. He could feel that the thing was becoming more and more conscious, and more and more dangerous.
"It's moving," he suddenly said. "It's not drifting randomly; it's moving in a direction. It's not fast, but the trajectory is stable, like... it's being guided."
"Is someone manipulating things?" Emma Frost opened her eyes, her voice slightly tense.
"Not necessarily," Ye Mo shook his head. "It's more like a resonant attraction. Like a magnet attracting iron filings, it's being drawn towards something."
"Should we stop them?" Bucky asked, turning around with his pulse rifle already in hand.
"Yes." Ye Mo looked up at Captain America, "We must find the source before it hits the ground. Otherwise, when it crashes into the atmosphere, not only New York, but half the planet will shake."
Captain America paused for two seconds, then nodded. "Prepare for departure. Activate the B-7 shuttle, install the EMP shield and deep space detection module. Black Widow, contact S.H.I.E.L.D.. to send two escort aircraft to stand by at Cape Canaveral."
"I'm already transmitting the coordinates," Black Widow said, confirming the last sentence of the communication, then took off her headset. "They asked if it's another Hydra toy to deal with."
"Tell them this time the toy isn't on Earth." Ye Mo flexed his wrists; his palms were slightly hot, a sign that his abilities were about to enter a high-load state.
Emma Frost walked over to him and asked in a low voice, "Are you sure you can keep an eye on it?"
"I'm not sure," he answered honestly, "but I have to try. This thing is too weird; if it really explodes, we won't even have time to yell 'Holy shit!'"
She didn't smile, she just nodded slightly.
The five men checked their equipment and donned their combat uniforms with swift, efficient movements, without uttering a single unnecessary word. The base lights shifted from blue to yellow, then to an alternating red and yellow alert mode, and the low hum of engines emanated from the underground hangar, like a giant beast slowly opening its eyes in the darkness.
Ye Mo took one last look at the console. All the training data had been archived, and only a constantly fluctuating red curve remained on the screen, marking the fluctuation of the power from the universe.
He raised his hand, and the tactical lens automatically locked onto the target's direction. A new notification appeared at the edge of his field of vision: Tracking mode activated, cooldown time unknown.
He didn't say anything more, but simply gripped his gloves tighter and strode towards the hangar passageway.
Behind them, four sets of footsteps followed in unison.