In the chaos of the scene, Jas didn't hesitate. His voice rang out with urgency and authority.
"Let's go!"
Without waiting for a response, he led the entire group—more than thirty people—through the only path that hadn't yet been swallowed by the tide of horrors.
But just as they made it a few steps forward, the air behind them was pierced by a bone-chilling, familiar shriek. The screech of the giant black leech echoed through the concrete corridors once more.
It wasn't over. Not by a long shot.
The grotesque creatures they had encountered earlier—hundreds of small, strange leeches—had rely been the appetizer.
Now, Jas and the others were the main course.
The walls began to tremble violently. Cracks spread along the floor like spider webs, and entire sections of the concrete infrastructure crumbled and fell. From the fractures, holes appeared—dozens, then hundreds—and from within them surged countless small black leeches. They spilled out like a tidal wave, an ocean of squirming death.
Beneath the cracked surface, an enormous hidden chamber was revealed, sprawling deep beneath the site—hollowed out over dozens of underground levels.
The room glowed faintly from hundreds of flickering lights that lined the walls. But at the very bottom of the chamber was a truly nightmarish sight: a monstrous, formless black mass. Thick, oily liquid extended from its massive body, sliding along the surfaces, reaching out like grasping limbs.
When they saw the creature—its grotesque form stretching across the chamber—color drained from everyone's faces.
In the live broadcast room, viewers sat frozen in horror. For a few seconds, no one dared to type.
Then, chaos exploded.
"Shit! Shit! What the hell is that thing?!"
"Oh my god, it's massive! It's like a mountain of flesh!"
"Wait—is that the real leech? Is this the original form?!"
Back in S.H.I.E.L.D., every agent, analyst, and executive was locked in stunned silence.
Except one.
Nick Fury, his one eye fixed on the live feed, clenched his jaw.
"It's just as I suspected…" he murmured.
He had already theorized that the leeches might have a central body, an original host form that directed them. But even in his most vivid nightmares, he hadn't imagined anything like this.
The way it pulsed… the way it breathed… the way it spawned wave after wave of smaller leeches…
The horror was beyond words.
······
The group inside the site ran like headless chickens—desperate, afraid, but sohow still following Jas without question. Even though it was his first ti entering this bizarre and deadly place, he moved with a certainty that was almost uncanny.
Every ti their path was cut off by the black tide of leeches, Jas would take a sharp turn down another corridor or through a hidden hatch. Every ti the walls seed to close in, he found a way through.
Even the long-separated Munru and Nanku, who had been split from the main group earlier, were sohow found along the way—almost as if Jas knew exactly where they'd be.
That was when Irantu began to grow suspicious.
He turned to Onru, walking quickly beside him.
"What's going on here?"
Onru's expression was twisted in confusion. "I don't know. This doesn't match any of the planned escape routes… but sohow, Jas keeps finding paths."
Then, as the group stopped briefly to catch their breath near a stairwell, Irantu stepped in front of Jas and raised a hand to halt him.
"Hold on. We need to talk."
Jas looked at him, a rare mont of uncertainty flashing across his face.
"I… I don't know how to explain it," Jas admitted, his voice lower. "But I just know where we are."
It didn't make sense. Not to Irantu. Not to the others. Not even to the millions watching the live feed.
"What do you an you don't know, but you do?"
"Wasn't this his first ti on site?"
"Is he… possessed?"
······
Back at S.H.I.E.L.D., Natasha Romanoff frowned.
"What is this, a riddle?" she muttered.
Nick Fury didn't answer right away. Then, after a long pause, he spoke, his voice heavy with realization.
"I think… I understand."
Everyone turned to look at him.
Nick leaned forward, his eye never leaving the screen.
"If what Jas and the others said is true—if they've been inside that place for three days—then the question we should be asking is: what happened during those three days?"
Silence followed.
Then a wave of realization spread across the room.
Of course.
Sothing must have happened to Jas during that ti—sothing that changed him. Made him different. Gave him knowledge no one else had.
······
At Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One watched the footage with calm solemnity.
She sighed.
"It's a temporal anomaly," she said softly. "Ti within that place is fractured… unstable. I can see the distortions."
She narrowed her eyes.
"And sothing else. Sothing... that takes from you."
······
Back in the footage, Irantu still looked unconvinced.
"Then at least tell where you're leading us."
Jas gave him a brief smile—genuine, gentle, and oddly reassuring.
"I have an idea."
And for reasons no one could explain, that smile worked. Everyone felt just a little lighter, as if sunlight had pierced through the darkness for a brief mont.
Even the viewers at ho—millions of them—felt a sudden pang in their hearts.
They'd seen that smile before.
Irantu opened his mouth to protest again, but Onru stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder.
"We should trust him," she said quietly.
Ross nodded. "Jas is a good guy. I believe him."
Another shriek tore through the air—the black leeches were coming again.
Irantu clenched his fists.
"Fine. We'll follow you."
And so, they ran again.
Jas led them down another stairwell. He didn't even look back when he pulled a firebomb from his belt and hurled it into the growing tide of leeches.
The incendiary grenade exploded right in the middle of a mass of squirming tendrils.
Before the blast could reach them, Jas slamd the door shut, cutting off the fire and sealing the danger behind it—for the mont.
But already, more tendrils were reaching out through cracks.
"Open fire!"
Da-da-da-da!
Da-da-da-da!
Gunfire lit up the corridor as the task force laid into the creeping limbs with everything they had.
While the bullets didn't do much permanent damage, they bought precious seconds by forcing the leech tendrils to retreat.
"This way!" Jas called again, turning sharply into a narrow passage.
As the group followed him, soone pointed out a sign on the wall.
"Wait—this area... human cryopreservation?"
Irantu finally had enough.
"Jas, what the hell are you doing?!"
Jas turned and looked him dead in the eye.
"You don't have a choice, Blue Ranger. I've been here for three days."
Irantu froze. "Three days? What do you an three days? From the ti you entered to the ti we entered was just—four hours!"
Another explosion rocked the corridor.
There was no ti to argue.
Jas ran forward again, and everyone was forced to follow.
Eventually, they entered a large observation deck, protected by thick glass windows. From here, they could see a vast chamber beyond—a room marked with bold letters:
Olympian Project Testing Area
Rows of towering cylindrical pods lined the space.
Jack stepped forward, stunned.
"Oh my god... Are those... cryo-chambers?"
"No," Jas said quietly. "They're containnt units."
Jack opened his mouth to ask more, but Jas was already moving again. He led the team to another stairwell at the far end of the observation deck.
They descended quickly into the heart of the facility.
The main floor of the Olympian Project's chamber felt cold—sterile. The fluorescent lights flickered above them as they stepped onto smooth tal tiles.
They had just enough ti to take a breath before the wall behind them began to pulse and writhe.
Leeches squird through the cracks.
Sothing enormous was coming.
Sothing ancient.
Sothing... angry.
___________________________________
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