Chapter 2: Into the Void

"Shit," Ethan muttered, backing away from the console. He could already hear voices shouting over the facility's intercom.

"Unauthorized activation! Get everyone back to the facility! Kingpin needs to know about this!"

Ethan's eyes darted back to the collider, its chaotic energy growing more unstable by the second. He had no idea what would happen next, but one thing was clear: he was no longer just a scientist. He had set something into motion that couldn't be stopped.

....

Ethan's fingers flew over the console, rapidly typing commands to override the facility's security system. The alarms were deafening, echoing through the massive chamber, but he had no time to think about that. He needed to buy more time. With a few final keystrokes, the facility's doors locked with a sharp hiss, sealing off any access to the collider room.

"Let's see you get through that," he muttered, wiping sweat from his brow.

Outside, the pounding of fists and muffled shouts filled the air. Kingpin's goons would be here any second, and Ethan knew it. His heart pounded, but his mind remained focused. The collider was already nearing critical levels of instability, the glitching lights flickering erratically as the multiverse strained against the machine's programming.

He bolted across the bridge beneath the collider, his steps echoing in the massive, hollow chamber. Above him, the twin beams of the collider whirled and buzzed, clashing together with increasingly wild arcs of energy. If he could just make it to the central power node, he could blow the entire facility sky-high.

Meanwhile the doors of the facility continued to deform against the relentless attacks of Kingpin and the others, deep fist marks appear more and more.

While Ethan was running, the facility doors burst open after succumbing to the onslaught, from it, the group appeared.

"Ethan!"

Kingpin's roar shook the room. He stood at the far end of the bridge, flanked by his enforcers and armed researchers, each of them wielding high-tech weapons. Energy rifles and particle cannons. Behind them, the sealed doors began to groan under the weight of the breach attempts.

Ethan stopped halfway across the bridge, turning slowly to face the massive crime lord. His chest heaved with breath, but a twisted grin crept onto his face. "You're too late, Fisk. It's over."

Kingpin's eyes bulged with rage, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles were white. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Ethan?! You can't just walk away from this!"

"Walk away?" Ethan laughed, a sound so bitter and maniacal that it echoed off the walls. "Oh, no, I'm not walking away from anything! You and your whole operation, this corrupt world... it's all going down! I'm blowing it to hell!" The man began tweaking.

Kingpin's face contorted with shock and fury. "You're insane!"

"Maybe!" Ethan's voice rose as he gestured wildly to the chaotic beams of the collider above. "But I'm tired! Tired of being used, tired of being your damn pawn! This.. this is me finally taking control!"

Kingpin barked orders to his men, "Take him down!"

One of the researchers stepped forward, raising his energy rifle. Ethan, still laughing hysterically, spat insults. "Go ahead! You think you can stop me? I've already won! You're nothing without this machine! NOTHING!"

There was a sharp whine, and then a searing pain shot through Ethan's abdomen. His laughter stopped abruptly. He looked down, stunned, to see a smoking hole in his torso, the edges charred. The researcher's rifle hummed, still hot from the blast.

Ethan swayed on his feet, his hands slowly reaching for the wound. He could feel the warmth of his own blood, sticky against his fingers. His vision blurred as he stumbled backward, his knees buckling.

The world tilted, and before he knew it, he was falling. His body tumbled down toward the bottom of the facility, the cold air rushing past him as Kingpin's furious screams faded into the distance.

Above, the collider began to glitch more violently. The beams crackled with energy, sparking in all directions. And then, in one terrifying instant, a black hole ripped open in the center of the collider, swirling with a malevolent force that defied all logic.

The researchers screamed in horror as the black hole expanded, its gravitational pull warping reality itself. Kingpin shouted orders, but it was too late. The entire room seemed to stretch and bend as objects, debris, and even people were sucked into the abyss.

Ethan's limp body, still falling, began to float upward. His eyelids fluttered weakly as the black hole drew him closer. His mind was numb, but somewhere deep inside, there was a flicker of life, a faint, stubborn will to survive.

The last thing Ethan saw before everything went black was the entire facility disintegrating, being consumed by the void.

....

In the endless dark, there was nothing. No sound. No movement. No time. Ethan drifted through the void, his consciousness barely clinging to existence. There was no life, no death... just an infinite expanse of emptiness.

Then, from the nothingness, a singularity formed. A black hole appeared, swirling with cosmic energy. It pulsed, defying the very laws of reality. Slowly, the void began to change.

First, bones began to form, a skeletal structure pieced together from the black hole's swirling energy. Veins and organs followed, intertwining and fusing with one another. Ethan's body rebuilt itself, stronger, more resilient. His muscles reformed, denser than before, his brown skin smooth and unscarred, a perfect recreation of his former self but vastly improved.

His senses returned, sharper than ever. He could hear the faint hum of the universe itself, feel the pressure of existence pushing against him. His body was no longer just flesh and bone, it was something more, something connected to the void.

But something else happened, too. As the dark void around him shrank, it became a circle, a small, perfectly black circle that settled onto Ethan's face, right where his nose and mouth should have been. His skin turned stark white, almost luminous, while other black circles of varying sizes began to appear across his body.

The void around him had changed, no longer an endless expanse of darkness. It was now white, with the circles on his skin contrasting against it.

One of the black circles detached from his body and floated a short distance away, growing until it was about a meter in diameter. Ethan stared at it, the circle on his face morphed into a wide expression with a mix of confusion and awe.

The circle hovered in the air, its surface rippling like water. Without warning, Ethan felt a gentle pull. His body, weightless in the void, was slowly drawn toward the circle. He didn't fight it. There was no reason to. He floated into it, his form disappearing into the darkness once more.

The void folded in on itself, and Ethan was gone.