Sublime

On an unknown island somewhere in the Pacific lies a research facility with but a single person manning the place.

He had short black hair that was neatly combed and wore a white suit.

With both hands in his pant pockets, he looked casual as he stared at a giant cylinder in front of him.

The cylinder was filled with an unknown fluid and floating in the middle of it was, what seemed to be a deformed…infant.

The man looked at the monitor screen at the side and shook his head.

"Project FX - Test 11. Another failure. This time it only lasted 3.45 seconds before deforming and dying."

He then looked at the side where a cell was placed. Inside the cell was a woman.

Her eyes were blank and her face pale.

"Subject F's DNA can no longer be extracted from the prisoner's ovary. Commence incineration."

As if his words had decided her fate, several holes appeared in the cell's walls where red hot muzzles appeared and pointed at the center of the cell.

Just as flames were about to shoot out from the muzzles, a portal appeared right behind the man.

The next moment, the cell was warped and torn apart. A gentle wind seemingly lifted the woman in the cell and arrived beside the portal where Benjamin had appeared from.

Looking at this woman, Benjamin frowned.

He actually recognized her.

This woman was none other than Janice Lincoln…formerly known as the Beetle!

She was the second woman that Benjamin had slept with in this world…but why was she here?

She should be locked in one of SHIELD's prisons.

When Benjamin saw that Janice looked blank and unresponsive, he frowned deeper and turned to the only man in the place.

That man still looked on calmly and only raised his brow in surprise.

"What a surprise. I was just wondering how to get your DNA again and you've come to deliver yourself to my door."

The man smiled.

"You must be John Sublime?"

"In the flesh. As one would say."

Sublime smiled and did a small bow.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Subject F. Welcome to my Facility."

"Subject F?"

"Yes. Based on your behavioral patterns, how you're seemingly one step ahead in most of your arrests, and other data I extrapolated, I'm 14.52% sure you have some kind of ability to feel it when other people are talking about you. I know it seems impossible, but there was no reason to risk it so I had always referred to you as Subject F. And in the case of the name not being important and just the mere thought of you is all that's needed, I simply need to think of you as an object. A test subject for my experiments."

"..."

Although Benjamin didn't reveal any emotions, he was actually shocked in his mind.

He actually figured out about his He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named ability!?

Granted, Benjamin knew that although this ability seemed powerful at first glance, it actually had a lot of limitations.

The best it can be used for is to know ahead of time if someone wanted to plot against him or so that he could know whenever someone needed his help.

It also works for other things but the main point was that someone needed to say his name or nicknames associated with him.

With his current popularity, he had asked the System to filter it out a lot as otherwise, he would get a splitting headache from all the people who uttered his name.

Because of this, he doesn't rely on it a lot and only saw it as a convenient tool. But he never imagined that someone would intentionally find ways to go around the limitations of that ability and still plot against him.

Benjamin looked at Sublime weirdly.

This guy must have one hell of an imagination to be able to think in that direction…

"So? Was I right?"

Sublime smiled as he asked.

Benjamin ignored his question and turned back to Janice.

Maybe because he's usually alone in this facility, it seemed that Sublime especially liked to talk and went ahead and explained.

"You're curious why she's here, aren't you? Well, it's simple really. It's because I needed to extract your DNA. And you sure filled her up with a lot of it."

"..."

Benjamin frowned again.

Then, he turned to look at the huge cylinder with an unknown fluid inside as well as a deformed…being.

Suddenly, Benjamin felt a shiver down his spine.

Although the thing inside looked nothing more than a blob of meat, Benjamin could feel a trace of…familiarity with it…

Coupled with what Sublime said and what happened with the Frost sisters…a terrifying thought appeared in Benjamin's mind.

At this point, Sublime's mouth curved even more.

"Yes! I tried to create a duplicate of you! However, for some reason, they can never get past a few seconds before deforming and dying! Why is that? What makes your body so special? You're not a mutant, but you're not human either. So what are you, Benjamin Freed?"

"..."

Benjamin didn't answer again and simply continued to look at the deformed thing inside the cylinder.

Unable to get a reaction from him, Sublime continued.

"Ah, are you perhaps curious why I did it? It's simple. You see, I am-"

"I don't give a damn about what you are or why you did it."

Benjamin's words were cold and full of killing intent.

He turned his gaze to Sublime and for the first time since he…or rather, 'it' was born millennials ago…it felt fear.

Sublime was what you would call a sentient bacterial life form that was born when life began on Earth.

It was the dominant species in Earth and has the ability to any lifeforms.

Well…any except for mutants.

When it knew that there was a special race that it was unable to possess, it knew that sooner or later, that race would be responsible for its destruction.

So it plotted and plotted behind the scenes.

It was there when the Super Soldier Serum was injected into Captain America.

It was there when Wolverine was in the Weapon X program.

It was there every time humans went against mutants.

All so it could wipe out the mutant-kind.

However, Benjamin Freed appeared and threw all its plans into nothing.

Upon its investigation, Benjamin wasn't a mutant, yet he was unable to possess him as well.

That's why it wanted to study him.

It knew that the key to achieving its goal lies in Benjamin's body.

If it could just replicate him somehow…it could end all mutants and become the sole dominant species once more!

It wasn't afraid of death.

At worst, it can simply hop into another body to possess.

But why?

Why is it afraid now?

Where is this fear coming from?

It looked back at Benjamin who stared at it with cold eyes.

It knew.

Benjamin wasn't looking at 'John Sublime'...He was looking at 'it'.

Suddenly, a golden crown appeared on Benjamin's head.

The golden crown had several slots on it that were empty. However, in the middle slot lay an orange gem that glowed faintly.

Sublime only looked at the gem briefly but in that instant, he suddenly found himself in a blank orange world.

There was only the horizon and his feet stood on top of a water surface.

"Where…"

"Oh? A new guest?"

Sublime turned around and saw a woman in a black dress. Behind her was another woman wearing what seemed to be a maid outfit.

These two were none other than Death and Hela.

Just as Death was getting curious about this new guest in the Soul Stone, Benjamin appeared as well.

She turned to her and was about to ask but stopped when she saw how dark Benjamin's expression was.

Benjamin wasn't in the mood to speak to them and continued to stare at Sublime.

Seeing him, Sublime started to shout.

"Where is this? Where did you take me?"

"Dying is too kind for you. I brought you here to suffer for all eternity."

Actually, this was the first time that Benjamin's trying to use the power of the Soul Stone fully like this.

Still, it felt natural to him. As if the stone had become a part of his limb.

With a thought, Sublime's face suddenly contorted as he began screaming while clenching his chest.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! W-WHY…DOES IT HURT…SO MUCH!!!???"

"What you're feeling now isn't the pain of the flesh or mind. But the pain of the soul."

"MAKE…IT…STOP…!!!"

"No. I told you. Dying is too kind for someone like you."

Benjamin coldly spoke and waved his hand.

Suddenly, walls appeared and encased Sublime along with his cries of pain.

With that, they weren't able to hear any more of his shouting and the Soul Realm once again maintained its peace.

Benjamin looked at the empty surrounding and waved his hand.

A beautiful island and mansion appeared.

Sublime's cell was placed underground. Benjamin planned to turn this place into a special prison for the worst of the worst.

With all that taken care of, Benjamin heaved a sigh of relief and turned to Death and Hela.

"Sorry about that."

"What happened?"

Death asked.

"Well…it may be faster if I just show you."

Benjamin sighed and walked up to her and Hela

He then placed his index and middle finger near their heads first and looked at them to ask if it was okay to touch.

They nodded and Benjamin touch both their temples.

Closing his eyes, he showed them his memory of what happened just earlier.

After a while, he stopped and saw both of them having dark expressions.

Death, being who she is, had seen her fair share of deaths throughout her life.

But even then, she felt disgusted by how Sublime had perverted the birth of a life like that.

Actually, if it were anyone else, Death wouldn't care so much. However, that life created was born out of Benjamin's DNA. For some reason, it felt more unpleasant when she thought about it.

She turned to Benjamin and rebuked him a little.

"The punishment you gave isn't enough. Let me kill him a few more times. Don't worry, with me here, and with the help of the Soul Stone, he can die again and again without killing him."

Benjamin was confused.

How can he die without killing him?

Benjamin raised a clenched fist.

People die if they are killed.

After slightly relieving the meme in his head, Benjamin nodded.

"Then, I'll leave it to you. Feel free to torture him however. Just don't kill him."

"I'll help too."

Hela added.

Benjamin nodded to her, appreciating her help.

Personally, he hasn't really gotten much interaction with Hela but it's good to see her behaving herself.

Benjamin then left the Soul Realm and opened his eyes back to reality.

He looked at Janice who still looked blank and unresponsive. He sighed and took out a bell.

It was the Clarity Bell.

Benjamin lightly shook it, creating a melodious tone that filled the surroundings.

Soon, light began to appear in Janice's eyes as she began to gain clarity.

Blinking a few times, she looked around in confusion before resting her gaze on Benjamin.

"How are you feeling?"

"Are you…real…?"

"Yes, Janice…I'm real."

Janice was silent for a while before tears began to well up in the corner of her eyes.

She threw herself on Benjamin's chest and cried.

All the pent-up feeling from being imprisoned and repeatedly prodded on was finally released when she saw Benjamin.

She knew she was now safe.