Location: Staten Island – Ascendant Research Facility (:Cradle-3)
Time: 03:22 A.M.
Under the cover of darkness, you crouched with Daredevil behind an overgrown retaining wall just outside the compound. Beyond it: a seemingly abandoned processing plant—one you now knew was the nerve center of Project Ascendant.
You activated your System Vision.
Outlines lit up in your field of view—patrols, turrets, and a power junction embedded beneath the side gate. That was your entry.
You adjusted your gloves. Iron Tiger Style pulsed just beneath the skin—refined, patient, like a storm waiting to break.
⸻
[Quest Accepted: The Cradle Must Fall]
Objective: Infiltrate Cradle-3, retrieve Adaptive Subject files, plant sabotage charges, and extract undetected.
Optional: Discover the origin of Subject 11-B.
Difficulty: Very Hard
Rewards: ???
⸻
[Level: 11 | EXP: 450/1250]
Stat Points: 0 (Auto-distributed)
• STR: 17
• DEX: 17
• END: 17
• INT: 17
• WIS: 17
• CHA: 17
• LUCK: 10
⸻
You and Daredevil split up. He'd take the roof. You'd go through the power junction and sneak into the lab's lower floors.
[Skill Activated: Stealth – Lv. 5]
[Skill Activated: Iron Tiger Style – Adept Lv. 2]
[Skill Activated: Intercepting Step – Lv. 2]
You slipped through the dark corridors, each movement silent, calculated. Down in the server room, you found what you came for.
A single console flashed with the ID:
RESEARCH: ADAPTIVE STRAIN – PHASE BETA
Access Level: Clearance Alpha Required
Override? [Y/N]
You inserted the Adaptive Data Key you'd taken from Rourke.
[System Bypass: SUCCESSFUL]
⸻
Data Extracted:
• Adaptive Genome Trial Maps
• Psychological Conditioning Algorithms
• "Subject Zero" Archive
• Project Founder: [REDACTED – DECRYPTING...]
Personal Entry Unlocked:
"Y/N's body shows innate cellular correction. Genetic drift is stable. He is the perfect candidate... but not yet aware of his full potential. Our work continues."
⸻
Suddenly—footsteps.
Two Echo Protocol guards entered. You didn't hesitate.
The first dropped before he could yell—an intercepting step into a neck chop. The second raised his sidearm, but your Iron Tiger palm strike shattered his wrist and knocked him cold.
+300 EXP
[Skill Level Up: Intercepting Step – Lv. 3]
[Skill Level Up: Iron Tiger Adept – Lv. 3]
You planted the sabotage charges on the power grid. The timer was set: 6 minutes.
You turned to leave—
And then froze.
In a cryo-chamber on the far wall was a girl, maybe 12. Monitors labeled her as Subject 13-C. Vitals unstable. Augmentation rejection rate: 78%.
You cursed.
You couldn't leave her here.
[Perk Activation: Adaptive Instinct – Latent]
A faint pull in your cells warns you—this girl shares your genetic baseline.
She might be your sister.
⸻
Optional Objective Added: Rescue Subject 13-C
⸻
You lifted the cryo-chamber onto a mobile hover sled and booked it down the corridor. Outside, Daredevil met you halfway, bleeding from a gash in his arm.
"Alarm's going up. Time to move."
Together, you raced out the side exit as klaxons blared.
3:58... 3:57...
Gunfire chased you, but your steps were cleaner now, more efficient—your body moving as if it already knew what to do.
2:12... 2:11...
Just as you crossed the outer fence, the entire facility shook with a deep boom. Orange light blossomed behind you as power stations blew and walls crumbled.
[Quest Complete: The Cradle Must Fall]
+1800 EXP
[Level Up: 11 → 12]
+5 Stat Points (Auto-distributed)
⸻
Back at the safehouse, Daredevil wrapped his arm while you stabilized Subject 13-C using your new skill.
[Skill Used: Triage Analysis – Lv. 1]
[Status: STABLE]
She stirred faintly, but didn't wake.
You stared at the screen. Her DNA scan matched yours by 87%.
Not a clone. Not a fabrication.
Family.
Daredevil placed a hand on your shoulder. "Whatever they did to you... it started a long time ago."
You looked down at the unconscious girl.
"Then it's time I found out everything."