The clock struck 2:00 PM.
In the subterranean silence of his Malibu workshop, Tony Stark set down a soldering iron, his hands steady, though his mind was a whirlwind of recent traumas and victories. He felt the familiar tug at the base of his skull.
In the heart of the Umbrella Hive, Aryan leaned back in his leather chair, the hum of servers fading into white noise. He closed his eyes.
The transition was seamless, a practiced ascent through the astral layers, a feeling of weightlessness that abruptly shifted into the heavy gravity of the Sefirah Castle. The grey mist solidified beneath their feet, turning into the mottled stone floor of the great hall.
Around the bronze like table, the members manifested. The air was thick with the ease of veterans who had spent over a year reshaping the geopolitical landscape of the Earth. Tony, Wanda, T'Challa and Namor took their seats, the stone scraping softly against the floor. Their eyes turned naturally toward Aryan.
"The world is still shaking from the Hydra leak," Tony began, leaning back and crossing his arms, the casual posture belying the intensity in his eyes. "But it's a good shake. Like a fever breaking. The Federation is filling the gaps faster than I expected. The 'Leader' certainly knows how to manage a crisis. His approval ratings are making Gandhi look unpopular."
"It was a necessary purification," T'Challa added, his voice a low rumble. "The internal rot has been excised. But as we discussed, our focus must now shift. The Federation will manage the people, we must manage the threats they aren't even aware of yet."
Aryan nodded, his expression serious, the grey fog swirling around his ankles. "Exactly. We are the deterrent. We don't interfere in the day to day governance… that is for the politicians. But if an external invasion… touches this planet, we act as one. A unified force to protect the cradle of humanity."
The conversation shifted, the mood lightening slightly as the members began to discuss the evolution of their respective abilities. They had seen the terrifying limits of Wanda's Chaos Magic, the way reality seemed to bruise around her when she was emotional. They had witnessed T'Challa absorb the kinetic energy of a tank shell. They had watched Tony master Magnetism with the same obsessive precision he once applied to circuit boards.
"We've all reached a plateau of sorts," Namor remarked, his dark eyes fixing on Aryan with a piercing intensity. "But you, Aryan... you act as the guide. You've provided us with the means to transcend our biological limits, yet you remain the most enigmatic among us."
The King of Talokan leaned forward, the golden armor on his shoulders gleaming in the dim light. "We know the Apex Survival Package makes you the pinnacle of human evolution. We know you have seen the threads of the future. But you have never revealed your primary power. You have spent more time in this Castle than any of us, accumulated more wealth in the ledger… what are you holding back?"
Aryan leaned forward, clasping his hands on the table. A thoughtful smile played on his lips. "I'm not holding back, Namor. I'm simply waiting. I've chosen to enjoy the simplicity of a common human life for as long as possible. According to the destiny mapped out in my original timeline... my true power isn't meant to awaken until the year 2025."
Tony raised an eyebrow, his Cognitive Multitasking instantly flagging the date as significant. "You bought the Apex package, which already puts you in a different league than Captain America. Why the wait? With the resources you have… you could force an awakening tomorrow. You could buy the sun."
"I could," Aryan admitted, his voice dropping to a hush that drew them in. "After the Apex purchase, I felt the threshold. If I were to buy further high level upgrades now, the sheer energy influx would trigger my awakening prematurely. And frankly, once that sun rises... there's no going back to being 'just' Aryan. There is no going back to being human."
Wanda leaned in, her eyes fixed on him with a depth of devotion that the others had long since accepted as the gravity of her world. "Tell us, Aryan. What is it? What power requires such patience?"
Aryan looked at them, letting the silence stretch.
"The power I carry, the one that is currently dormant within my essence, is the force of one million exploding suns."
The silence that followed was absolute. It was as if the conceptual weight of his words had increased the local gravity of the Castle, making it hard for the others to even draw breath.
"It is a solar consciousness," Aryan explained, his voice calm despite the terrifying scale of his words. "It is total molecular dominance. To move so fast that time becomes a static image, to possess strength that makes the weight of a continent feel like a grain of sand. It is the ability to project a golden radiance so pure it can heal a dying world or incinerate a galaxy. It is a power that survives the heart of a star and the vacuum of the void alike."
He looked around the table, his Omega level Telepathy subtly brushing against their minds, sensing the waves of shock crashing against their mental shields.
Aryan lied smoothly, his face a mask of humble sincerity. "If I awaken it now, I fear I would lose the human perspective I value so much. I would become a literal god, a being of pure light and molecular will. I'm not ready to stop being your friend and start being a celestial event just yet. I have suppressed it. I will hold it back until the world absolutely requires it."
Tony was the first to find his voice. His Cognitive Multitasking was already running the physics and the result was making his hands shake beneath the table.
"A million suns," Tony muttered, his mind flashing through images of the sun's photosphere, the roiling plasma and the solar flares that could swallow the Earth whole. "Aryan, do you even understand the thermodynamics of what you're saying? I spent billions of dollars of my personal fortune in this Castle just to see a future where I was a hero in a metal suit. And here you are, carrying a 'delete' button for the solar system in your DNA."
Tony leaned forward, his Eye Boy vision instinctively trying to scan Aryan's cellular structure across the table, but he saw only a blinding golden warmth that forced him to blink.
"It's physics," Tony said, his voice rising in pitch. "You're talking about being a walking singularity. A biological quasar. If you sneeze too hard, do we all just... cease to exist? Do the oceans boil?" He gave a nervous laugh, trying to hide the fact that he felt like a child playing with AA batteries next to a man holding a fusion reactor. "I thought I was the 'Futurist,' but you... you're the future's end point."
T'Challa sat perfectly still. His Super Soldier senses and Combat Precognition were screaming at him, sensing the sheer "Presence" Aryan was describing. It was the feeling of standing at the base of a volcano that was about to erupt. But unlike Tony, T'Challa's reaction was one of philosophical respect.
"It explains the restraint," T'Challa said softly, his voice cutting through Tony's panic. "To have the power to rule everything, to be the judge, jury and executioner of every star system in this quadrant and to choose instead to build hospitals. To give away software. To sit here with us and discuss logistics as equals."
T'Challa looked at the others, his gaze firm. "Most men, upon receiving even a fraction of such heat, would have burned their enemies to ash within the first hour. You have used your position to become the world's most generous ghost. That is the true mark of a leader, Aryan. It is not the strength of the suns you carry, but the strength of the soul that keeps them contained."
Namor remained quiet for a long time. His pride was a physical thing, usually radiating off him like the salt spray of the ocean. But now, he felt small. His Hydrokinesis allowed him to move the tides, to crush submarines, but Aryan could boil the entire Atlantic into steam with a thought. He could turn Talokan into a dry crater in a nanosecond.
He realized that his entire kingdom… existed only because Aryan preferred a world with oceans. The realization was strangely reassuring. Namor adjusted his stance, his eyes shifting from defiance to a deep loyalty. If Fate had chosen Aryan to be the Sun, then Namor would be the dark depth that supported him.
Wanda's reaction was entirely different. She looked at Aryan with an almost holy pride, her green eyes shimmering.
Her savior, the man who had rescued her and Pietro from the dust of Sokovia, the man who held her hand when the nightmares came, was the center of the universe. It made sense to her. It felt right. She didn't fear the "million suns" because she knew that the sun was her warmth. Her Chaos Magic hummed in a joyous rhythm. To Wanda, Aryan was the Sun and she was content to be the gravity that moved in his orbit, protecting his human side so that he never had to become that "celestial event" alone.
"2025," Tony muttered again, shaking his head, rubbing his temples. "Well, at least we know we have a heavy hitter if aliens show up. Just... maybe give us a heads up before you go supernova, okay? I'd like to be on the other side of the planet. Or maybe in another dimension entirely."
Aryan smiled… that signature Friendly Aura washing over them, instantly diffusing the tension and making the "god" feel like a "friend" again.
"I'll do my best, Tony," Aryan laughed softly. "But we have more pressing matters today than my future. You've been carrying a heavy weight since yesterday. It's time we used that credit you've been saving."
Aryan looked toward the center of the hall, where the fog began to swirl into a vortex like pattern. "It's time for the Mediumship, Tony. Let's bring them home for a while."