The hum of the fluorescent lights in Midtown High's AP science class was a low-frequency torture. To anyone else, it was background noise; to Ethan Kane, it was a rhythmic reminder of the biological prison he was currently inhabiting. He sat at the back of the room, his posture slightly slumped, the picture of a disengaged teenager.
In reality, his mind was operating on a level that would have made the teacher's curriculum look like finger-painting.
Being grounded was a tactical choice. He had orchestrated the discovery of his absences with the precision of a master clockmaker. By allowing his parents to catch him, he had created the perfect opening to "confess" his nature as a 'mutant' with hyper-intelligence. It was a controlled burn—destroying a small part of his secret life to save the forest. When the time came for them to visit Emma Frost's Massachusetts Academy, they wouldn't be horrified by the sea of mutants; they would be looking for a safe haven for their son.
An added bonus was the secondary effect on Peter Parker and Felicia Hardy. He had felt their growing distrust, a sharpening of their senses whenever he moved. By being "caught" and "grounded" like a normal kid, he had humanized himself in their eyes. He had shown them a "flaw"—a moment where the great Ethan Kane had slipped up.
'Let them believe I'm fallible,' Ethan thought, his thumb ghosting over the screen of his phone under the desk.
But even within the confines of a high school classroom, the work did not stop. The Super Soldier serum—the Kane-Erskine variant—was physical work, requiring his presence in the lab to monitor the Genesis Cradle. But the Machine Cells? It had moved past the physical phase, as samples had been created. Now it was a matter of pure logic. A war of code.
He was currently staring at a cascading waterfall of hexadecimal strings on his phone. He was writing the neural-bridge protocols that would allow the nanites to interface with a host's central nervous system without triggering the "predatory override."
The Machine Cells were still in their raw state; they were too aggressive. They didn't want to help the host; they wanted to devour and become the host. They were a mechanical cancer that sought to rewrite the biology of their vessel until nothing human remained. Ethan needed them to be an alloy—a perfect synthesis of flesh and machine.
He tapped a command, sending a compacted 200-gigabyte data packet through his encrypted phone to the N.E.A.R. servers.
An hour later, his phone buzzed with a haptic pulse.
Ethan didn't frown. He simply deleted three lines of code and replaced them with a recursive feedback loop. He was close. He could feel it in the way the math was starting to line up. In a day or two, he would have the key to a new stage of evolution. Whether he was in a state-of-the-art lab or a dusty classroom in Queens was irrelevant. The mind was the only laboratory that mattered.
The bell rang, a jarring metallic shriek that signaled the start of lunch. Ethan pocketed his phone and stood, shifting back into the role of the "troubled but brilliant" student.
He found Amy and Paige at their usual table in the corner of the cafeteria. The atmosphere was frosty before he even sat down. Since the incident at the X-Mansion—where the silver drones had turned a peaceful Sunday into a war zone—Ethan had been a ghost. He hadn't answered their texts, hadn't showed up for their weekend training sessions, and had generally treated them like background characters in a movie he was tired of watching.
"Look who decided to join the mortals," Amy said, her voice sharp. She didn't look up from her salad, but her aura—usually a soft, inviting pink—was a jagged, irritated violet.
"I've been grounded, Amy," Ethan said, sliding into the seat opposite her. He kept his voice soft, apologetic. "No phone, no computer, no leaving the house except for school. My parents found out about the absences. That's why I've been MIA and couldn't contact you guys."
Paige looked at him, her blue eyes narrowed. Her posture was very rigid. "You could have told us something was going on, Ethan. We thought... I don't know what we thought. After the drones at the mansion, everything got weird. Peter won't talk about it, and the both of you just disappeared. We can't even get through to Peter most of the time."
"Sorry about that," Ethan said, and for a fleeting second, he allowed a flicker of genuine weariness to show in his eyes. It was a calculated risk, but a necessary one. "Everything caught up with me at once. The pressure, the secrets... I just needed to crash. I didn't mean to shut you out. As for Peter, he's been out of town doing something 'spider-like' for the past week or so."
Amy sighed, the violet in her aura softening slightly. She was the easier of the two to crack; her empathy was her greatest strength and her greatest weakness. "We were worried, you idiot. Especially with the X-Mansion stuff. Did you hear about Professor Xavier?"
"Yes, I heard he was rescued," Ethan said. "Peter mentioned it a few days ago when I saw him before he left again. Apparently, Peter rescued him."
"Yeah, he's back," Paige added. "But the school feels different now. More... guarded. Mr. Summers is like a drill sergeant, and Ms. Grey is outside constantly checking if the school will be attacked again."
Ethan nodded, then decided it was time to move the pieces. "Actually, that's part of why I've been so distracted as of late. My parents are looking at other schools. They don't think Midtown is 'challenging' enough."
Amy perked up. "Other schools? You're leaving? Like where?"
"There's an academy in Massachusetts," Ethan said, swirling a fry in a puddle of ketchup. "The Massachusetts Academy. It's private, high-end, and they have a very specialized curriculum for 'gifted' students. I'm actually in the process of transferring. That's where I was when I was skipping—I mean, absent. I was taking their entrance exams and doing interviews."
This was the lie. He had already secured his spot, and he had already ensured Emma Frost would be expecting him and these two. Now, he just needed to bring his assets with him while making it seem like it was their idea.
"Massachusetts?" Paige frowned. "That's far away. What about Xavier's? I'm supposed to start there in a few weeks. I wanted to go there to be with my older brother."
"I looked into Xavier's," Ethan said, his voice dropping into a tone of confidential concern. "But honestly? After seeing those drones attack the front lawn... I don't know, Paige. It feels like a fortress, not a school. It's a target and one that gets attacked quite often. Every time a government agency wants to make a point, they hit Westchester. Doesn't exactly seem safe to me."
He looked at Amy. "The Massachusetts Academy is different. It's under the radar. It's run by a rich lady named Emma Frost—she's a business mogul, a genius. She teaches her students how to actually live in the world, not just how to fight in a war."
Amy's eyes widened. "Wait, Massachusetts Academy... Emma Frost? I got a letter from them! Just yesterday!"
Ethan did a masterful job of looking surprised. "You did? Really?"
"Yeah!" Amy pulled a folded piece of thick, cream-colored parchment from her bag. The Massachusetts Academy seal was embossed in gold at the top. "It was a recommendation letter. It said my performance in school has been remarkable and that I have the potential for their leadership program. I thought it was a prank."
"No, it's not a prank," Ethan said. He turned to Paige. "Did you get one?"
Paige shook her head, looking a bit dejected. "No. Just the enrollment forms for Xavier's."
"That's strange," Ethan mused, leaning back. "You have some of the best grades in our year. Plus, I hear the Massachusetts Academy is similar to Xavier's Institute. I'm surprised that she didn't reach out to you, too, Paige. Maybe it's just delayed in the mail?"
He knew Emma would have someone send the second letter tomorrow. He had coached her on the timing.
"I don't know if I want to go all the way to Massachusetts," Amy said, looking at the letter. "My mom would miss me. And Peter..."
"Peter wants us all to be safe, Amy," Ethan said, leaning in. "Think about it. At Xavier's, you're basically a soldier-in-training. At the Massachusetts Academy, you're an elite. You'd have access to labs that make Stark Industries look like a high school science fair. And more importantly... we could all be together. All of us."
He let that sit for a moment. He knew the dynamic. Amy was the heart; Paige was the protector. If he could convince Amy that the Massachusetts Academy was the path to a better, more "normal" life, to hang out with friends, Paige would follow. She wouldn't let Amy go to another state alone.
"I'll think about it," Amy whispered, her gaze lingering on the gold seal.
"That's all I ask," Ethan said, his phone buzzing again in his pocket.
He checked it under the table.
Ethan's thumb hovered over the screen.
He looked up at the two girls, his smile warm, bright, and utterly devastating.
"Actually," Ethan said, standing up as the bell rang again. "I have a feeling things are about to get a lot more interesting for all of us. So let's stick together in the future. Just trust me on this. I have to stop by the library to return a book, so I'll head back first. You guys enjoy your meal."
As he walked away, he didn't look back. He didn't need to. He could hear the low murmur of Amy and Paige discussing the letter, their voices filled with the exact mixture of curiosity and hope he had planted there.
He stepped back into the hallway, the fluorescent lights still humming their irritating buzzing.
Ethan was ready to leave this domestic front behind. The Massachusetts Academy would be his new board, and he had just ensured his most loyal pieces would be right there with him.
He took a deep breath of the stale cafeteria air.
'One more day,' he thought. 'Just a few more days of being the regular, 'Ethan Kane.' And then, I can finally end Phase One.'