AWAKENING

Location: Unknown Underground Facility

Marcus slowly regained consciousness, his mind foggy, body aching but strangely intact. He should have been dead. He *felt* like he should be dead. Instead, he found himself in a cold, dimly lit room, strapped to a steel table. The last thing he remembered was the explosion, the blinding light swallowing him whole. How was he still alive?

A voice interrupted his thoughts.

Voice (calm, measured): "I see you’re awake."

Marcus turned his head to see a man in a lab coat standing over him, holding a tablet, his face obscured by the shadows.

Marcus (groggy): "Where... am I?"

Scientist (smirking): "Someplace safe. For now. We didn’t expect you to survive, Marcus. But you always were full of surprises, weren’t you?"

Marcus struggled against the restraints, his muscles straining as he tried to free himself.

Marcus (angry): "What the hell is going on? Who are you?"

Scientist: "All in good time. But first, we need to discuss what you’ve become."

Marcus paused, his mind racing. *What I’ve become?*

Marcus (demanding): "What are you talking about? What have you done to me?"

The scientist stepped forward, the light finally revealing his face—calm, cold, with calculating eyes.

Scientist: "We didn’t do anything, Marcus. *You* did. The system... the one you interfaced with before the explosion. It didn’t just deactivate the bioweapons. It changed you."

Marcus’s heart raced. He had felt something in those final moments before the explosion. The energy coursing through his veins, the pain, the power. He thought it was killing him, but now he wasn’t so sure.

Marcus (glaring): "Changed me how?"

Scientist: "You’re not entirely human anymore, Marcus. The system’s technology—it fused with your DNA, altering your biology. You’ve become something... more."

Marcus: "More? What the hell does that mean?"

The scientist tapped on his tablet, bringing up a screen that showed Marcus’s body, glowing with strange energy signatures.

Scientist: "Your body is now integrated with the energy of the system. You’re capable of things no human should be. Enhanced strength, speed, regeneration. You survived that explosion because of the energy coursing through you."

Marcus (disbelief): "You’re saying I’m some kind of... weapon?"

Scientist (smiling slightly): "Exactly. And now, we need to see just how powerful you’ve become."

Marcus’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t like the sound of that.

Marcus (sarcastic): "Yeah? And what if I don’t feel like being your lab rat?"

Scientist: "Oh, you don’t have a choice. You’re too valuable now, Marcus. Too dangerous to be left unchecked."

Marcus: "And if I escape?"

Scientist (calmly): "You won’t. The facility is locked down. But by all means, try."

His smile was almost taunting.

Marcus’s mind raced. He could feel it now, the energy inside him, pulsing through his veins. The restraints holding him weren’t ordinary—they were designed to suppress whatever power the system had given him. But he was starting to understand it. Starting to feel how to control it.

Marcus (smirking): "You want me to try? Fine."

With a sudden surge of energy, Marcus flexed his muscles, the restraints groaning under the strain. The scientist took a step back, surprised at the sudden burst of power.

Scientist: "Impossible..."

Marcus (grinning): "You should have made these stronger."

With a final push, the restraints snapped, and Marcus leaped off the table, his body moving faster than it ever had before. He grabbed the scientist by the collar, slamming him against the wall.

Marcus (growling): "Now you’re going to tell me everything."

Scientist (gasping): "You... you can’t stop it. You don’t understand what you’ve become."

Marcus tightened his grip, his eyes glowing faintly with the same energy that had saved him from the explosion.

Marcus: "Try me."

The scientist struggled, his eyes wide with fear.

Scientist (panicking): "You think you’re in control, but you’re not. The system... it’s still inside you. It’s using you."

Marcus froze for a moment, his mind racing. Using him?

Marcus: "What do you mean, it’s using me?"

Scientist: "The system isn’t just a weapon, Marcus. It’s... alive. It’s evolving. And now, it’s a part of you."

Marcus (furious): "You’re lying."

Scientist (desperate): "No. You’ve seen it, haven’t you? The energy inside you? It’s not just power. It’s sentient. And it’s only a matter of time before it takes full control."

Marcus released the scientist, his mind spinning with the revelation. He had felt the energy—the strange, almost living force coursing through him. But he had thought it was just part of the system’s power. Could it really be alive?

Marcus (distantly): "What... what does it want?"

Scientist (coughing, catching his breath): "We don’t know. That’s why we were studying you. To figure out what the system’s endgame is."

Marcus: "And you thought you could control it? Use me as your guinea pig?"

Scientist (grimly): "We didn’t have a choice. If we don’t understand it, how can we stop it?"

Marcus clenched his fists, the energy pulsing through his body again. He had been manipulated, used. And now, he wasn’t sure who the real enemy was—the scientist, the system, or whatever was inside him.

Marcus (coldly): "I’m not your experiment."

Before the scientist could respond, alarms blared throughout the facility. Red lights flashed, and a voice over the intercom echoed through the halls.

Intercom: "Security breach. Subject Marcus Reed has escaped containment. Initiate lockdown."

Marcus (to the scientist): "Looks like I’m not the only one breaking free."

Scientist (fearful): "You have to leave, now! If they find you—"

Marcus (interrupting): "I’m not running anymore. I need answers."

Scientist: "There’s no time! If they catch you, they’ll kill you."

Marcus (gritting his teeth): "Let them try."

The door to the lab burst open, and armed guards stormed in, weapons raised.

Guard Leader: "Subject Reed, stand down!"

Marcus (sarcastic): "You’re really going to point guns at the guy who just survived a massive explosion?"

The guards hesitated, unsure of what to do.

Guard Leader: "This is your last warning."

Marcus (smiling): "I’m giving *you* one chance. Walk away."

The guard leader’s eyes narrowed, but before he could give the order to fire, Marcus moved. Faster than any human could, he closed the distance between them, disarming the guards with a blur of motion.

Marcus (breathing heavily, standing over the unconscious guards): "I don’t want to kill anyone. But I will if I have to."

The scientist watched in shock as Marcus turned to him, the power radiating from his body like a storm barely contained.

Marcus (to the scientist): "Where’s the control center?"

Scientist: "W-what?"

Marcus: "The control center. Where the system is being monitored. Where they’re keeping all the data on me."

Scientist (nervously): "It’s... down the hall. Two levels down."

Marcus: "You’re coming with me."

He grabbed the scientist by the arm, dragging him along as they left the lab.

As they moved through the facility, more guards appeared, but Marcus dealt with them swiftly, incapacitating them without lethal force. His mind was focused on one thing—getting to the control center and finding out the truth.

Scientist (pleading): "You don’t understand! If you go to the control center, you’ll—"

Marcus (interrupting): "I’ll what? Find out what you’ve been hiding? That’s the point."

They reached the elevator, and Marcus pushed the scientist inside, pressing the button for the lower levels. As the doors closed, the scientist slumped against the wall, defeated.

Scientist (quietly): "You’re going to destroy everything."

Marcus (determined): "Good."

The elevator descended in silence, the tension thick in the air. Marcus’s mind raced with possibilities. What was the system? What had it done to him? And most importantly—what was it planning?

As the doors opened, Marcus stepped out, ready for whatever awaited him.

But nothing could have prepared him for the sight that greeted him in the control room.

Rows of monitors displayed data on the system—on *him*. And at the center of it all, a massive containment unit pulsed with the same energy that now flowed through Marcus’s veins.

Marcus (whispering): "What... is that?"

Scientist (terrified): "It’s... the heart of the system. The source of its power."

Marcus (eyes wide): "And it’s alive?"

Scientist: "Yes. And now... it’s awake."

The containment unit began to glow brighter, the energy within it crackling with raw power. Marcus felt a pull, like the system was calling to him, drawing him in.

Scientist (shouting): "You need to leave! Now!"

But Marcus couldn’t move. He was transfixed by the energy,