The jungle was dying.
After the battle, the once-lush forest had turned to cinders. Smoke curled lazily from scorched trees, and the smell of burnt flesh still lingered in the air. The Eternals stood in a loose formation—some cautious, some curious. Pluto stood among them like a shadow too still to be human.
Ajak turned to him, her face unreadable beneath the soft glow of her gold-trimmed armor. "Walk with me."
Pluto followed without a word.
They moved through what remained of the jungle, the others keeping their distance. He heard whispers from the team—Sprite muttering to Kingo, Thena still gripping her weapon, Ikaris watching with narrowed eyes. They didn't trust him.
Pluto didn't care.
The music in his mind shifted—now something low and ambient, like the hum of a heartbeat under water. It helped him process, stay calm.
"How did you arrive here?" Ajak asked as they walked.
"I fell," he replied simply.
"From where?"
"A place outside logic. A place your mind wouldn't understand even if I explained."
She glanced at him. "Try me."
He paused, considering. "I was created. Or perhaps… chosen. Reconstructed. By something that calls itself the Marvel Producer."
Ajak stopped walking.
"The Marvel Producer?" she echoed, brows drawing tight.
"Yes," Pluto said. "He's not a god. He doesn't create life. He collects it. Tests it. Injects anomalies into stable systems… to watch what breaks."
Her eyes darkened. "That sounds… familiar."
Pluto tilted his head. "I'm not the first?"
She didn't answer.
Instead, she reached out gently and touched his temple. A warm current of energy flowed into him—not hostile, but inquisitive. Probing.
She recoiled a moment later, face pale.
"You're not *in* the system," she whispered. "You're not part of the Celestial weave. You exist *outside* it."
Pluto nodded once. "I was made that way. Then something even older than the Producer found me. It gave me… self-existence. I'm not a variable. I'm a constant."
Ajak stared at him for a long moment. "You're dangerous."
He said nothing.
"I should be afraid of you."
Still, he remained silent.
"But I'm not," she added softly. "Because I sense that you—like us—are bound by some form of code. You fight, but you do not hunger for war."
Pluto looked up at the sky. "I don't feel hunger. I feel… curiosity. And a strange emptiness I can't define."
Ajak nodded slowly. "We're based near Babylon. Come with us. Let the others see you for what you are."
Behind them, the other Eternals had gathered again. Tension still hung thick, but Ajak's presence was calming. Even Ikaris didn't speak.
"Let's go," she said.
In a flash of celestial energy, a circular portal shimmered open.
They stepped through.
***
Babylon was unlike anything Pluto had seen.
Built into the earth like a song carved from stone and bronze, the Eternal stronghold was a fusion of ancient beauty and futuristic harmony. Floating glyphs moved through the air like dandelions caught in time, and towering statues stood motionless, each holding stars in their palms.
The team walked ahead, but Pluto lingered, absorbing everything.
His system pinged.
*[LOCATION UPDATED]*
*Babylonian Eternal Stronghold – Earth-199999*
*Power Signature Detected:* Celestial Fabric – Dormant
*New Function Unlocked: Combat Archive*
*Scan in Progress…*
He dismissed the screen.
They led him into a circular chamber lined with holographic tablets. In the center, a sphere hovered—pulsing faintly with soft golden light
"This is Domo," Ajak said, "our ship. And the heart of our mission."
Pluto approached the orb, eyes narrowing. Something old was inside it—older than the Eternals, older than the Marvel Producer's experiments.
Something that… watched.
His presence disturbed it. A pulse of energy flickered through the orb. The others stepped back, startled.
Ajak stepped forward. "He's responding to it."
"No," Pluto said softly. "*It's* responding to *me*."
Suddenly, alarms blared.
*Deviant incursion – Western Ridge – Multiple signals.*
Makkari bolted toward the door instantly. Ikaris was already airborne. Thena rolled her neck, blades forming again.
"You're coming with us," Ajak said to Pluto.
He nodded once.
They arrived at the ridge within seconds.
This wasn't a pack.
It was a *horde*.
Dozens—maybe hundreds—of Deviants swarming like ants. And these weren't mindless. They were organized. Tactical.
"They've evolved," Gilgamesh muttered.
Ajak frowned. "No… something's controlling them."
Pluto's system pinged again.
*Warning: External Influence Detected – Deviants Display Unnatural Coordination*
*Power Source Unknown*
*Recommendation: Terminate with Precision*
"Stay close," Ikaris snapped.
But Pluto was already moving.
He dove into the swarm, hands glowing faintly now—echoing the residual energy of Ikaris' heat vision. His body had begun to *mimic* it, slightly. His blows were charged, vaporizing flesh with each hit.
Thena moved beside him, her blade flashing. She didn't speak, but she watched him carefully.
One Deviant lunged from behind.
Pluto spun and drove his knee through its chest, twisting mid-air to crush another's throat with his heel.
Every time he was hit, his body recalibrated. Bones hardened. Reflexes sped up. The more damage he took, the more untouchable he became.
The Eternals noticed.
"You see that?" Kingo said, eyes wide. "He's learning… *while fighting.*"
"He's more than a soldier," Ajak murmured. "He's a living algorithm."
Within minutes, the field was silent again. Corpses lined the ridge, dissolving into ash.
The Eternals stood in a loose circle again, surrounding Pluto.
This time, they weren't angry.
They were… cautious.
"We need to understand what you are," Ikaris said, his voice tense. "You're not just powerful. You're *outside* our rules."
Pluto turned slowly to face him. "So are you."
Sprite narrowed her eyes. "You think we're the same?"
"No," Pluto said calmly. "You were made for a purpose. I was made to *defy* purpose."
They stared at each other. And just as tension thickened again—*the sky screamed.*
A thunderclap of force boomed through the air. The clouds above Babylon spiraled unnaturally, forming a vortex of crimson and violet energy. Wind surged outward in waves, shaking the ancient stone beneath their feet.
Then the light came.
It didn't descend. It simply *appeared*—a rift, hanging in the sky like a wounded star. From its center, something stirred.
A figure.
Not a Deviant. Not an Eternal.
It didn't walk or float—it *existed*.
The sky dimmed in its presence. Color faded. Even the song of the wind was muted.
Pluto felt it before anyone else did. A prickle in his spine. Not fear. Not pain.
*Recognition.*
Ajak whispered, "What is that?"
Pluto's system flashed.
*[ALERT]*
*Class: Cosmic-Tier Entity*
*Identity: UNKNOWN*
*Designation: ??????*
*Risk Level: IMMEASURABLE*
*Action: STAND DOWN. OBSERVE.*
The being's "voice" echoed in every mind present—without sound, without language.
*"You are still raw, Pluto Vale. This is merely a whisper of my form. I come only to remind you… you are not finished."*
Pluto stepped forward, his voice flat. "What do you want from me?"
The being did not answer. Instead, it reached out—not physically, but conceptually—and *touched* him again. Reality stuttered. His form shifted, invisible even to the Eternals' senses. The world trembled around him.
*[UPGRADE RECEIVED]*
- *True Existence Stabilized*
- *External Influence Immunity: Activated*
- *Damage-Triggered Evolution Enhanced*
- *Emotion Receptor Expansion: Active*
- *Pain Interpretation: Erased*
And then, just like that, it vanished.
The clouds stilled. The wind returned. The world remembered itself.
Pluto exhaled slowly. "That was the second one."
Ajak stared at him, shaken. "There are more?"
"Maybe," Pluto replied. "Or maybe they're just pieces of something bigger."
Thena sheathed her weapons. "What are you going to do now?"
Pluto looked to the horizon. The system hovered quietly beside him, music still playing faintly in the background—an orchestral remix now, something between ancient and futuristic.
"I'm going to walk," he said. "See what the world does when it notices something it can't control."
Sprite frowned. "You think you're untouchable?"
"No," Pluto said, his silver eyes flickering. "I *know* I am."
Ikaris stepped forward again, fists glowing faintly. "What if we decide to stop you?"
Pluto glanced at him, his expression neutral. "Then we'll both learn something new."
But before another word was spoken, Ajak raised a hand.
"Enough."
The team stood still.
Ajak turned to Pluto. "You're not our enemy. Not today. But know this—if your presence threatens Earth, we will act."
Pluto nodded. "That's fair."
She stepped forward, lowering her voice. "I don't think you're here to destroy. I think you're here to become."
Pluto looked up at the stars again.
"No," he said quietly. "I'm here to *remember* what I am."
And as the night fell over Babylon, the man who wasn't a man turned and walked alone into the shadows—leaving even gods uncertain of what came next.