Chapter 203: The Astartes Upgrade Plan
Inside SHIELD, Tony Stark's "friendly sparring match" with Captain America concluded with Tony edging out the win.
With the show over, the assembled onlookers dispersed and went back to whatever they had been doing before the entertainment started.
Tony himself was the exception.
He had been about to follow the others out when Fury, uncharacteristically, stopped him.
"Hey, Stark — don't rush off. I need a word." The man in the black coat spoke up without warning, and Tony's feet stopped.
He glanced at the Avengers filing out through the door, then looked back at Fury. "Just me?"
"Just you." Fury nodded. He waited until the room had fully cleared before continuing. "This isn't something that gains anything from more people knowing about it."
He settled into the sofa. "As it happens, I'm quite interested in this AI you were describing."
"Meaning?"
"It got approved?"
"No —"
"Then what are we talking about —"
"Because I never brought it to them."
Tony stared at him for a moment. Then something clicked, and he looked Fury over with the expression of a man who has just confirmed a suspicion. "You're not about to ask me to develop this thing quietly, on the side."
"Is there a problem with that?" Fury looked as though the question genuinely puzzled him.
"I actually agreed with everything you said in there."
"Prevention reduces unnecessary loss. That part is simply true."
"And we do need to be ready for whatever's coming."
"Ready for unknown threats," he added, after a moment.
This was the conclusion Fury had reached after watching Matthew absorb a nuclear warhead with his body. When the most powerful weapon in humanity's arsenal had stopped being an effective threat, it meant that one man's continued existence was, by itself, a potential extinction event. If Matthew stayed the way he was now, good. If that changed one day, humanity would have nothing left to respond with. But if that changed one day, humanity would have nothing left to respond with.
A new weapon was therefore not optional. It didn't have to be used. It could not be absent.
Tony heard him out and shrugged. "If you agree with me, why did you stay neutral in the meeting? You don't want them knowing this is happening?"
"Stark, you got part of it right."
Fury explained without hurrying. "I stayed neutral for two reasons. First, I don't want an internal split among the Avengers over this. Second, the thing itself genuinely carries substantial risk."
"I'm aware that everything carries risk. You can choke on a glass of water."
"But the risk level here is high enough that this needs to move forward as a classified operation."
He shifted direction. "At the next Avengers meeting, I'll announce publicly that the Security Council has rejected the AI proposal."
"At that point, I just need you to go along with it. Act like you've dropped the idea."
"As for how it actually moves forward —" He looked at Tony. "You understand what I mean."
Tony nodded slowly. "Of course."
"One thing, though." A pause. "Funding?"
"This was my proposal, but that doesn't mean I'm covering the entire research budget on my own."
A fair point, genuinely.
Fury was quiet for a moment, then drew a breath. "Fifty percent from me. I'll transfer it directly to your account."
Tony nodded at the commitment, then raised an eyebrow. "You're contributing fifty percent personally."
"Meaning this is coming from you as an individual. Not from SHIELD."
Fury's expression shifted slightly. "Stark. If everything had to be said out loud this plainly, conversations would lose all their color."
New York. Umbrella Corporation.
After wrapping up the Apocalypse situation and saying a brief goodbye to the Ancient One, Matthew had come straight back to the office.
Apocalypse's appearance had, in the most complete way possible, filled the critical gap in the Progenitor Plan and pushed Matthew's capabilities into an entirely new tier.
According to the System's assessment, his overall power level now fully matched Captain Marvel in her Binary form.
This meant he had finally stopped being the kind of existence that could be casually erased when a genuine cosmic-level threat materialized.
He was clear-eyed about what this was not: the finish line.
The gap between his current level and the top tier of capability was still substantial. Even now, there remained a visible gulf between him and figures like Odin and the Ancient One.
And even peak Odin and peak Ancient One would come up short against a six-Stone Ultron as it approached.
So: same as it ever was.
The revolution isn't finished yet.
With that clearly in mind, Matthew didn't spend long dwelling on the absorption of Apocalypse. He returned to the company immediately and set the Progenitor Plan and the Astartes upgrade program in motion.
Underground training facility.
Under the cold white lights, Matthew's eyes swept across the System panel.
[Apocalypse Crisis resolved. System points +15,000.]
[Cumulative System points: 145,000. Pass reward: Alex Mercer (Blacklight variant) x1. Stored in System space.]
"I hadn't realized the accumulated points had reached this level." A flicker of mild surprise crossed Matthew's face.
His focus had been entirely on Apocalypse for some time, and he had barely tracked the Pass progress.
But looking at it now, the legendary "Uncle Alex" had apparently entered his roster without any fanfare.
"Looks like the Progenitor lineup just got another member." Matthew smiled to himself.
He turned his attention inward.
The flesh at his feet restructured in an instant.
A new body assembled itself from nothing.
Apocalypse.
Not the original grey-blue version, however. The skin tone was normal, and the build was considerably more imposing. A rough estimate put the height at around three meters, with musculature that made its presence felt just by standing still. The kind of form that didn't need to do anything to communicate threat.
"Much better. This version is easier to look at."
As a Progenitor, the appearance was his call to make. Apocalypse didn't get a vote on his own face.
Matthew pressed a palm gently to the Progenitor's forehead. The absorbed consciousness flowed back in.
The figure that had been motionless a moment before wrenched upright in a single sharp movement, pulling in a deep breath the way someone does when coming back from something bad, and sat up straight.
Same as Sebastian Shaw. The first thing Apocalypse did after his eyes opened was inhale like a man surfacing from a nightmare.
Once the gasping settled, he looked around with visible confusion.
When his gaze reached Matthew's face, the confusion resolved immediately into recognition.
"What time is it?" Apocalypse stood, voice low.
"Six hours after your death."
"So when you told me to 'bear with it' — you meant bear with it for six hours?"
"Were you expecting two or three years?" Matthew said.
Apocalypse shook his head. "No."
"If I have any say in it, I don't want to experience dying again."
"That sensation of a single moment stretched into something endless. It's not something anyone should have to endure."
He paused, as though something had just surfaced. "By the way — you brought me back for what you called the Progenitor Plan?"
"That's right."
"What do I need to do?" Apocalypse looked at him with mild uncertainty.
Matthew smiled. "Do? Nothing, actually."
"Or rather, someone else will handle that part."
"What you need to do is put this on."
He drew a light line with one finger. A sparking portal opened.
Through it, guided by the gravity field, a set of powered armor came drifting out, heavier and considerably different in design from the standard units. It stood roughly four meters tall.
Where the standard Astartes suits ran iron-grey, this one was a cool bright silver with the faintest trace of grey underneath.
"This is your powered armor."
"From here on, the name Apocalypse is retired." Matthew's voice was even. "What replaces it is Progenitor One."
With that, the invisible gravity field disassembled the armor and, piece by piece, began fitting it to Apocalypse's body.
In Matthew's design, Apocalypse's genetics would serve as the foundation for a fundamentally different kind of Astartes unit: one whose combat approach would no longer rely purely on physical force and bolt guns and chainsaw blades, but on ability-based combat.
In other words: a psyker warband, built along the lines of the Grey Knights.
Under the cold lights, Apocalypse felt the powered armor claim him piece by piece. He had reservations. He didn't resist.
The reason was simple: Matthew held absolute authority over him. Whatever Matthew said carried the weight of law. The thought of defiance simply didn't arise.
Once that was done, Matthew reached into the System and brought Alex Mercer out.
Alex looked exactly as he did in the game: white undershirt, grey hoodie, black leather jacket over the top with a vivid red phoenix wing design printed across the back, blue jeans, black shoes.
The moment he materialized, there was a layer of visible disorientation in his eyes. The instant his gaze landed on Matthew, it receded completely.
What replaced it was four words.
Loyal. To. The. Cause.
System-produced loyalty required no elaboration.
Alex's gaze moved from Matthew to Apocalypse, standing nearby.
The moment it landed there, something surfaced in his eyes that he made no attempt to conceal.
Hunger.
The Blacklight Virus running his body had apparently registered something exceptional about Apocalypse's biology the instant it got a clear look.
"Sir," Alex said, with no preamble. "Can I eat him?"
Matthew: ...
Apocalypse: ...
Matthew considered it briefly, then nodded.
He turned to Apocalypse. "Progenitor One — I'm afraid this is going to be a bit unpleasant for you."
"Don't worry. I'll bring you back quickly."
"...Fine." Apocalypse exhaled slowly and said nothing further.
It wasn't as though he had a real choice. Even if he refused, Matthew would eventually make it happen. Accepting it voluntarily was better than resisting and getting consumed anyway.
About five minutes later.
Alex let out a long, satisfied breath.
He felt the way parched earth must feel after enough rain has finally come through, replete in a way that was difficult to name.
Nearby, Apocalypse was in the process of putting the powered armor back on, wearing an expression that suggested he had just been forced to swallow something deeply unpleasant and was still processing the experience.
Compared to how the Evolution Field had absorbed him — the quiet, almost painless drawing-away that Matthew's method produced — Alex's approach was considerably less refined. Every stage of the process had been available in full detail.
In short: it had been extraordinarily unpleasant.
Nothing like the detached, almost peaceful quality of Matthew's absorption. More like the opposite of that, applied systematically.
If he had any say in the matter, there would not be a next time.
"How do you feel?" Matthew looked at Alex.
Alex nodded. "Better than I have ever felt."
"I can feel the new capabilities in my body clearly." He opened his palm.
Dust and sand scattered across the floor rose slowly into the air, gathered toward his hand, and began restructuring itself.
A few moments later, an ornate golden dagger sat in his palm.
"Restructuring matter..." Alex murmured. "Remarkable."
He dissolved the dagger back to dust and let it fall, then looked back at Matthew.
"Sir, is there anything you need from me?" His gaze was direct.
Anything needed...
Matthew thought for a moment. Then something occurred to him.
"Alex — how far back does your memory go right now? Do you still have your memories from when you were a researcher?"
The question landed and Alex went quiet. His brow drew together.
Matthew read the silence. The memories from before hadn't come back yet.
He didn't push further. He pulled Alex back into his System slot and applied a one-time optimization to correct the memory defect.
When he brought Alex out again, the full record was intact.
"Alex — you asked me earlier if there was anything I needed from you."
"There is."
"The research team in the lab has been running into some limitations in their Blacklight Virus work. You happen to have more direct experience with it than anyone else."
"So. I'd appreciate it if you could spend some time in the lab."
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