Chapter 10

Fort Eisenhower – Strategy and Analysis Division

The air inside the underground facility was different. Not charged with battle like the training grounds, not thick with sweat and exertion like the sparring ring.

This place smelled like thinking.

The crisp scent of printed documents, the faint metallic tang of high-tech equipment, the sterile coolness of recycled air. Orion sat in the middle of a sleek, glass-walled conference room, a half-empty bottle of water in front of him.

Across from him, a team of experts—scientists, strategists, analysts—watched him like he was an alien lifeform dissected under a microscope.

Dr. Elliot Vaughn, the lead scientist, leaned forward. He was in his late fifties, with graying hair and sharp, intelligent eyes. His specialty? Theoretical physics. Which, according to him, was now practical physics.

"You understand why you're here, Mr. Graves," Vaughn said, steepling his fingers.

Orion sighed, rubbing his temple. "Yeah, because I can bend reality and you people want to figure out how."

A woman seated to Vaughn's right cleared her throat. Dr. Naomi Chang—neuroscience and cognitive sciences. She adjusted her glasses, voice calm and measured. "Not just how you do it, but what the limits are."

Orion leaned back. "So… you want me to break the world in a controlled environment?"

A few of the analysts exchanged glances. Vaughn's lips twitched. "Something like that."

Orion exhaled, tapping his fingers on the table. "Alright. Where do we start?"

Vaughn slid a tablet across the table. On it, Orion's recorded fights played in slow motion—his sparring with Shaw, his use of Imperium, every moment where reality had… glitched.

"You have three primary manifestations," Vaughn said, swiping through the footage.

1. Reality Interference.

"You alter outcomes. Shaw's punch stopping before it lands. Your body correcting its own trajectory. These are shifts in expected reality."

Orion nodded. "Yeah, I don't command it. It just… happens when I believe it's already true."

Chang jotted something down. "Self-reinforcing cognition," she murmured. "Your subconscious dictates external physics. Fascinating."

2. Forced Probability.

"Not as direct, but still noticeable. You avoid direct hits not through speed, but through circumstance." Vaughn pulled up a frame where Orion dodged an attack that shouldn't have missed. "This wasn't reflex. It was probability bending."

Orion raised a brow. "So I'm lucky?"

Vaughn shook his head. "Not luck. Selective causality. You create the most favorable outcome for yourself."

Orion exhaled. "That explains a lot."

3. Conceptual Manipulation.

"This is the most concerning." Vaughn tapped the screen. It showed a slowed-down moment where Orion had erased Shaw's attack mid-motion. "This wasn't interference. This wasn't probability. This was a complete negation of an event."

Orion frowned. "Like deleting something from reality?"

"Yes," Vaughn said. "And we have no idea how deep that can go."

A silence settled over the room.

Orion swallowed hard. If I can erase a punch… what else can I erase?

Chang leaned forward. "We need to test this systematically. Figure out if there are conditions that limit your abilities."

Orion exhaled. "Great. More testing."

Phase 1: Mental Load Testing

They placed Orion in a controlled environment—an isolated, soundproof room, dimly lit, nothing but a chair and a metal table in front of him.

A screen flickered to life.

"Follow the instructions."

A simple sentence appeared. Orion read it, exhaled, and the first test began.

Test 1: Probability Shifting

A robotic arm extended, holding a die. The monitor displayed the command:

"Make the die land on six."

Orion watched as the arm dropped the die onto the table. It tumbled, rolled, landed on four.

"Okay," Orion muttered. "Try again."

The arm released another. He focused—not on the hope that it would be a six, but on the assumption that it already was.

The die rolled. Slowed.

Six.

A second one.

Six.

A third.

Six.

Orion smirked.

I don't influence the roll. I influence the reality where the roll already happened."

A voice crackled over the intercom. Vaughn. "Interesting. You're not changing luck. You're deciding which outcome is true."

Orion exhaled. "Next test?"

Test 2: Temporal Adjustment

A stopwatch appeared on the screen.

"Make time run slower."

Orion frowned. "The hell does that mean?"

The countdown began. 10… 9… 8…

He focused.

Tried to stretch the moment, slow the numbers, make each tick longer than it should be.

He felt the resistance.

The numbers blurred—slowed, but only slightly.

Then they snapped back to normal. 4… 3… 2… 1.

"Result: Partial success."

Orion exhaled sharply. "So I can alter time, but it fights back?"

Chang's voice came through the speakers. "Perhaps your mind still acknowledges time as a constant. If you could override that belief…"

Orion swallowed hard.

That would be dangerous.

Test 3: Conceptual Erasure

The final test was different.

The robotic arm extended, holding a red rubber ball.

"Erase it."

Orion tensed. "Wait. You want me to erase something?"

"Yes," Vaughn said over the intercom. "Completely. No traces left."

Orion exhaled slowly.

He focused on the ball.

He didn't push, didn't force, didn't try to make it vanish.

He simply accepted that it was already gone.

The ball flickered.

Reality shuddered.

And then—

Nothing.

The robotic arm was empty.

The ball hadn't been vaporized. It hadn't been destroyed.

It had simply never existed.

A heavy silence filled the room.

Orion's chest rose and fell. He felt… dizzy.

Chang's voice was quiet. "We have a problem."

Vaughn's tone was heavier. "No. We have a goddamn weapon."

Orion's fingers curled into fists.

He wasn't sure he liked where this was going.

Debriefing Room – 3 Hours Later

Orion sat across from Vaughn and Chang in a smaller conference room. Monroe was there too, standing near the door, watching silently.

Vaughn tapped his fingers on the table. "Your abilities don't just bend reality, Orion. They define it. You don't override physics. You rewrite what physics allows."

Chang nodded. "There's no limit in the way we understand limits. The only constraints are in your perception of what's possible."

Orion inhaled sharply. "Meaning… if I believe I can do something?"

"Then reality obeys," Vaughn confirmed.

Orion leaned back. "Holy shit."

Monroe finally spoke. "So. What now?"

Vaughn folded his hands. "Now? We push him further."

Orion groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "Jesus. You people don't believe in breaks, do you?"

Vaughn smirked. "Breaks are for people who need reality to function normally."

Orion exhaled sharply.

He had learned a lot today. More than he was ready for.

And for the first time, he wondered:

If he could rewrite anything… what was stopping him from rewriting himself?