Fractured Reality

Ethan's hands hovered over the keyboard, his breath coming in shallow, controlled bursts. How much of this was still him?

The terminal in front of him displayed a chilling truth—Stein had sent a message using his identity.

To someone. For something.

His neural HUD pulsed with an error notification.

Unauthorized System Command Detected.

Ethan's heart pounded. That wasn't him.

Stein was still in control.

And worse, Ethan had no idea when he would seize control again.

He had to act. Now.

The Internal War

Ethan pulled up his neural security protocols, bypassing the usual safeguards. If Stein was using his mind, he had to cut him off—completely.

But just as he initiated the purge—

Error: Process Interrupted.

Ethan's fingers froze.

The command… had been overridden.

His vision glitched. For a fraction of a second, his reflection in the dark screen smirked at him.

Not his smirk.

Stein's.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"

Ethan gritted his teeth. This was my mind. My body. You don't belong here.

Stein's voice was a whisper in the back of his skull. Oh, but I do. And the more you fight, the deeper I'll sink in.

Ethan slammed a mental block into place, pushing the presence back. The headache that followed was like a drill to his skull, but he didn't care.

He would not lose himself.

But the truth settled in like a weight in his gut.

This wasn't just a hack. It was an invasion. A war.

And Ethan was losing.

Forcing himself to focus, he traced the message Stein had sent.

It had been encrypted at a level Ethan himself had designed—which meant it was almost untraceable.

Almost.

With a deep breath, he activated a quantum decryption algorithm. Lines of code flickered, breaking apart before reforming into something decipherable.

The recipient?

An off-grid relay station near Moscow.

Ethan's mind whirled. The Syndicate had safe houses all over the world, but this… this was something different.

He sent an immediate alert to Sophia.

"We have a problem."

Her response was instant. "More than usual?"

Ethan hesitated. If he told her the full truth, she'd never trust him again.

"Just trace the location I'm sending," he said instead. "We need eyes on it—now."

Mariam stormed into the lab moments later. "Ethan, what the hell is going on?"

Ethan didn't turn. His fingers moved across the keyboard, sending real-time data to SHIELD's servers.

"Mariam, not now."

"No. Now."

She grabbed his arm, forcing him to face her. Her green eyes burned with suspicion.

"You've been different ever since we left the Syndicate's base. And don't lie to me. I know you."

Ethan's chest tightened.

Could she see it? The cracks in his control?

She took a step closer. "Talk to me."

He wanted to. God, he wanted to.

But if she knew… if anyone knew…

They would see him as a liability.

So he did the one thing he hated.

He lied.

"I'm fine."

Mariam's gaze didn't waver. "You're full of shit."

But before she could push further, Sophia's voice blared over the comms.

"Ethan—whatever message was sent, it triggered something. We just picked up a global shift in financial markets—stock crashes, algorithmic trading chaos—"

Ethan's stomach dropped.

That wasn't a warning message.

It was a directive.

And Ethan himself had delivered it.

Ethan's mind worked at blistering speed.

Stein was playing a bigger game. The nuclear plant attack was just a distraction. The real attack was global.

He pulled up real-time economic feeds. Billions of dollars were vanishing, digital assets wiped clean, critical infrastructure compromised.

SHIELD's headquarters went into high alert.

Sophia's voice was sharp. "We're under attack."

Ethan had to make a choice.

Did he stop the attack? Or did he stop himself?

He made the only choice he could.

He had to lock himself down.

His fingers flew across the keyboard, initiating an emergency cognitive containment protocol. If Stein was going to use his mind… then Ethan would cut himself off from the world.

But just as he activated the lockdown—

Everything went black.

For a second, there was nothing.

Then—

He woke up somewhere else.

A white room.

Empty. Silent.

Except for one thing.

His own reflection.

Except it wasn't a reflection.

It was Stein.

Sitting across from him, arms folded, a smirk on his face.

"Welcome home, Ethan."

Ethan's hands curled into fists. "Where am I?"

Stein leaned back, relaxed. Like he had all the time in the world.

"This?" He gestured to the white void. "This is… well, let's call it your mindscape. Our little shared space."

Ethan's pulse pounded. "You're inside my head."

Stein's grin widened. "Wrong. You're inside mine."

And just like that, the white room shifted.

The walls melted into darkness. The ground beneath Ethan's feet vanished.

And suddenly—

He was falling.

Falling into something endless.

Something he couldn't escape.

Back in Reality…

Mariam stared at Ethan's unmoving form.

His eyes were open, but he wasn't there.

"Ethan?" She shook him. "Ethan!"

Nothing.

Sophia rushed in. "What's happening?"

Mariam's hands clenched. "I—I don't know. He just froze."

Sophia's expression darkened. "That's not good."

Because Ethan Stone—the most dangerous hacker in the world—

Had just gone offline.

And if he wasn't in control anymore…

Then who was?