After the meeting dispersed and our thought-links severed, the room dissolved from around me, and I exhaled in relief. The weight of politics always lingered even after the projections faded. Five factions… five thrones… it would work. It had to.
But I had more important things to check on.
My consciousness snapped fully back into my body at Site-01, and the first thing I did was open the secure interface linked to one of the most brilliant minds I'd recruited so far: Victor Von Doom.
Or simply Victor, as I preferred to call him when we weren't dealing with formalities.
His research logs glowed across my screen—dozens of entries, diagrams, theoretical models, rune structures, alchemical matrices, and improvements I hadn't even imagined yet. The Philosopher's Stone was one of the most versatile magical constructs in existence. But in Doom's hands?
It was evolving into something transcendent.
I scrolled through his newest discoveries:
Permanent biological restructuring without soul decay.
A method of extracting pure conceptual energy for use in advanced containment systems.
A process to refine the Stone's transmutation field into targeted alchemical beams.
Stone-based stabilizers capable of enhancing magical relics—including Infinity Stone interfaces.
Alchemical shielding that could potentially block reality warping.
He had done all this in a matter of months.
I felt a rare flicker of pride.
Not many individuals impressed me. Fewer still earned my long-term trust. But Victor… Victor was more than just a brilliant scientist. He was Doom. A master of magic, science, strategy, and invention.
And despite the system's initial loyalty programming, I had deliberately given him intellectual freedom. He wasn't a puppet. I wanted him sharp, self-guided, ambitious—because ambition fueled innovation.
And because secretly, quietly, I was molding him.
Shaping him.
Preparing him.
For the future.
I flicked through the finalized designs for his latest creation—a refined Philosopher's Core capable of boosting energy output in an entire site. It was finished. It worked. And it exceeded expectations.
That was all I needed to see.
I opened a secure channel to the internal personnel system and entered a promotion request—though for Victor, I didn't even need approval; my authority as O5-1 superseded everything.
Clearance Level Upgrade:Victor Von Doom → Class 4 Clearance
New Position Assigned:Site Director of Site-19
Site-19. One of our most critical facilities. A site that handled high-value anomalies, advanced research, and some of the most dangerous objects on the planet. A site that, under the right leadership, could become the jewel of the Foundation.
And Victor was more than the right leadership—he was the future.
I pressed "confirm," and the system acknowledged the update with a soft chime.
Of course, the staff would question it. Some would whisper, Why give him such power so quickly? Others would speculate it was because of his brilliance alone.
And both would be wrong.
The truth was simpler, colder, and far more calculated:
I wanted Victor to become an O5 member.
My O5 member.
Part of my faction.
The Administrator's faction.
The faction of innovators, creators, thinkers, and reality-defying intellects.
Victor was already surpassing expectations, already reshaping Site-19 in ways the others couldn't dream of. He had the presence, the intelligence, the ambition, and—ironically—the necessary ruthlessness.
He wouldn't just serve the Foundation.
He would elevate it.
I leaned back in my chair, watching his new Site Director ID flash across the screen.
He was getting closer.
With every invention.
Every breakthrough.
Every demonstration of capability.
He was climbing toward the throne I intended for him.
And the best part?
He had no idea—yet—that I was grooming him for power.
A small smile tugged at my lips.
Soon.
Very soon.
Doom would rise.
Not as a tyrant.
Not as a villain.
But as one of the pillars of the most powerful organization on Earth.
And one of the most loyal pillars—loyal to me.