Caroline waited three days after the system activated before she bought anything.
Not because she was afraid.
Because impulse killed people faster than ignorance ever had.
She needed information first—real information, not rumors or vibes or half-remembered legends whispered around Mystic Falls High.
The system interface hovered in her awareness, patient.
She opened it.
[Item Available for Purchase:
Stark Smartphone – MCU
• Multi-spectrum scanning
• Energy anomaly detection
• Secure global communications
• Advanced encryption
Cost: 75,000 SC]
Caroline didn't hesitate.
"Purchase."
The phone appeared in her hand with a soft vibration—sleek, modern, deceptively mundane.
Caroline powered it on.
The screen bloomed to life—not with apps, but with layers.
Mystic Falls unfolded in wireframe and heat signatures, ley-line interference, energy readings that should not have existed in a normal town.
She swallowed.
"So it's real."
Vampires didn't glow red like monsters in movies. They moved wrong. Too fast. Too smooth.
She didn't follow them.
She tagged them.
Night after night, Caroline observed from a distance—sitting on rooftops, walking home from study groups, lingering at bedroom windows with the excuse of homework open on her desk.
The system chimed quietly.
[System Mission Assigned
Objective: Observe vampire activity without engagement.
Reward: 10,000 SC]
She logged everything.
Feeding schedules. Preferred routes. Which ones avoided the woods and which seemed drawn to them. Which houses were never touched.
Patterns emerged.
Mystic Falls wasn't overrun.
It was curated.
Someone was keeping things balanced.
Caroline used the Stark phone's secure channels next—not to call anyone directly, but to listen. Anonymous inquiries buried inside obscure supernatural forums, coded phrases slipped into dead message boards, questions framed so carefully they looked like academic curiosity.
She didn't ask about vampires.
She asked about exit strategies.
About cures, reversals, unfinished transformations.
About whether anyone had ever wanted to go back.
The replies trickled in slowly.
Dismissive. Curious. Hostile.
Then—interested.
Weeks passed.
The town map on her screen grew dense with data. Caroline adjusted overlays, cross-referenced with historical records, layered probability projections until Mystic Falls looked less like a town and more like a controlled ecosystem.
Then her phone rang one night.
Unknown number.
Caroline stared at it for a full three seconds before answering.
"Yes?"
"Someone's been asking very careful questions," a man said smoothly. "The kind of questions that suggest leverage."
She didn't deny it.
"I prefer preparedness."
A low chuckle. "Name's Slater. And if you're looking for information about vampires who regret their life choices… you've just stepped into my territory."
Caroline leaned back against her bed, gaze drifting to the glowing town map.
"Then we're aligned," she said calmly. "Because I'm not looking to expose anyone."
"What are you looking for?" Slater asked.
"A market," Caroline replied. "Discreet. Controlled. Limited supply."
Silence.
Then: "…You're serious."
"Completely."
The system chimed softly.
[System Notification:
Potential market opportunity detected.
Recommendation: Emotional shielding]
The call ended with an agreement to talk later. No promises. No threats.
Just interest.
Caroline exhaled and opened the system interface again.
If she was going to play this game, she needed her mind locked down.
[Optional Purchase Available:
Occlumency (Passive) – Harry Potter
• Emotional shielding
• Memory compartmentalization
• Resistance to magical intrusion
Cost: 120,000 SC]
"Yes," she said immediately.
The shift was subtle but profound—her thoughts organizing into quiet, orderly compartments. Emotional spikes flattened into manageable waves. Panic lost its grip.
She was still fifteen.
She was just no longer fragile.
But she wasn't done.
Her body was still human in the worst way.
She selected the final upgrade, the one she'd dismissed at first.
[Purchase Confirmed:
Enhanced Human Physiology – Doctor Who
• Accelerated neural speed
• Increased stamina
• Faster healing
Cost: 250,000 SC]
Warmth spread through her veins, clean and precise. Her heartbeat slowed. Her senses sharpened. The world felt… responsive.
Not superhuman.
Optimized.
The system updated.
[Mission Complete
Reward: 10,000 SC]
Caroline closed the interface and stared at Mystic Falls one more time.
She wasn't hunting vampires.
She wasn't saving them either.
She was building infrastructure.
And sooner or later, everyone in this town would realize—
Mystic Falls had a new axis.
And it was human.