Veyric leaned against the car window, tapping two fingers idly on his knee as his gaze settled on the notification hovering in his mind.
[Ding!]
[Reward Item: Talent Trial Coupon x1]
[Description: Redeem for any currently unlocked hero talent. Grants full access to the selected talent for 24 hours.]
[Trial Period: Activates immediately upon redemption. Effect expires automatically. Cannot be paused or cancelled.]
[Please choose your redemption timing carefully.]
He read the description twice, start to finish.
"Any hero talent..."
A mental inventory of the talent shop scrolled through his head.
Web-Shooting, Daywalker Physique, Venom Doppelganger... every single one was a game-changer in real combat.
Web-Shooting especially. Twenty-four hours of playing Spider-Man with no restrictions. Drop that at the right moment, and nobody would see it coming.
But the words "cannot be paused" gave him pause.
Burn the coupon at the wrong time, and those twenty-four hours would tick away for nothing. A waste he couldn't afford.
He turned the trial coupon over in his mind one more time, then made his call.
Save it. Wait for a mission with a clear window.
He'd barely settled on the decision when the system chimed again.
[Ding!]
[Achievement Bonus Effect: Cure/Bond rewards permanently upgraded!]
[Cure Hero EXP reward: 1 Point → 2 Points (Effective immediately)]
[Bond EXP reward: 1 Point → 2 Points (Effective immediately)]
Veyric stared at that line for a full second.
Then his gaze drifted sideways.
Toward the Black Widow Bond Reward Box he'd opened earlier.
He'd gotten 1 point from it.
Five minutes ago.
If he had waited... even five minutes... opened it after the achievement unlocked instead of before...
That would have been 2 points.
One whole point, gone. Just like that.
The cabin was quiet. Nothing but the low hum of the engine, Natasha's eyes fixed on the road ahead.
Veyric pressed his index finger against his temple. Something tight and frustrated tried to claw its way up from his chest, but it never quite made it out. It dissolved instead into a single silent exhale.
Even that tiny sigh didn't escape Natasha. Her eyes caught it in the rearview, and something soft flickered through them. Something close to concern.
System, you have no idea how hard every single point comes. This feels like missing out on a winning lottery ticket...
[Ding!]
Before he could even swallow his frustration, another notification popped up.
[Detected: Host opened Black Widow Bond Reward Box prior to achievement unlock. Discrepancy with updated reward standard identified.]
[System auto-compensation issued: +1 Experience Point]
Veyric went still for several seconds.
He read the message again, carefully, making sure he hadn't misread a single word.
"..."
A grin crept across his face.
"Well, well. Aren't you a generous system after all."
He tallied the numbers in his head.
One point left over from before. Five from the achievement. One from the compensation.
Seven total.
"Would you look at that. Tonight's little outing turned out to be one hell of a haul."
He'd intended to dig deeper into the system, figure out how best to spend those seven points, but the car had already begun to slow without him noticing.
The base was close. He opened his eyes naturally, stretched, and felt a satisfying pop run down his spine.
Natasha glanced over. Her gaze lingered on his face for a beat, then turned away.
"Sleep well?"
He looked at her, held her eyes for a second.
"Thanks, Natasha. Smooth ride."
It wasn't flattery. Not a single hard brake or jolt the entire way back. He'd rested better than expected, and that was entirely because of how she drove.
She paused. The corner of her mouth shifted by the smallest possible degree. She said nothing, pushed open the door, and stepped out first.
Venom slithered up from Veyric's collar, voice low.
"Veyric, trust my predator's instincts. That beautiful woman seems to care about you. Very much."
He didn't respond. Just followed her out of the car.
Inside the bunker, the lights were warm.
Beast had prepared dinner before they'd left. He'd guessed, correctly, that nobody had eaten a proper meal, and that a battle like tonight's would leave everyone starving.
The cafeteria counter held a row of trays: bread, steak, salad, smoked salmon, and a few small dishes of unidentifiable dipping sauces.
"I figured none of you had a chance to eat." Beast adjusted his glasses. "So I got everything ready in advance."
Hawkeye and Falcon were the last ones through the door.
Sam walked in, and his feet stopped. His gaze swept across the lit cafeteria, the trays of food still steaming, then met Clint's eyes.
The look they shared was hard to put into words.
Like two people who hadn't seen a lit room in a long time, staring at one now, not entirely sure it was real.
"Sit down," Peter said with a grin, waving them over. "This place is actually livable, I promise."
Everyone found seats.
Veyric scanned the table.
Bread, Steak, Salad, Salmon...
He picked up his fork, poked at the salad on his plate, and spoke with a thoughtful air.
"We just fought our asses off out there. Shouldn't we be celebrating with something like barbecue skewers?"
Veyric looked around the table.
"Once things settle down, I'll cook for all of you," he said. "The real thing."
Colossus reacted first. He brought his massive steel hands together in two solemn claps, the collision ringing out heavy and solid. His expression was so earnest it was impossible to doubt he meant every bit of it.
Peter's eyes lit up. "Will there be noodles?"
"Yes."
"What else?"
"A lot." Veyric speared a piece of salmon. "You'll see when the time comes."
The mood in the cafeteria loosened, just a fraction.
Venom had gone silent, hunched over his own portion of chocolate, gnawing away with singular devotion.
Throughout dinner, Peter's mouth never stopped moving.
He gave Hawkeye and Falcon the grand tour of the base via narration alone, bouncing from the medical bay to the armory, from the comms center to the training room. His voice rose and fell like he was describing buried treasure.
"The armory's pretty well stocked. Director Fury set it up before everything went south. Standard and non-standard weapons, the works..."
Clint set his knife and fork on the table. The motion wasn't loud, but it was deliberate.
"Are there bows in there? Arrows?"
His expression sharpened. The tentative politeness of a newcomer had thinned out, replaced by something focused.
Peter thought for a moment. "Should be. I'll take you down after dinner."
Clint picked up his utensils again. He didn't say another word, but something in his posture had shifted. A quiet new energy.
Peter moved on to the repair bay, and beside him, Sam set down his cup. His eyes brightened a visible notch.
"Repair bay?" He straightened in his seat. "Can my wings be fixed there?"
The Falcon wings had taken a beating. Spider-Man's webs had clogged the exhaust ports, and the hard landing afterward hadn't helped. Sam had patched what he could in the field, but the precision mechanics inside were compromised. The wings were a shadow of what they'd been.
Hearing this, Veyric remembered the Wing Repair Kit that had unlocked after curing Falcon. He spoke up at the right moment.
"The wings... I might be able to help with that."
No elaboration. Just the one line.
Sam turned to look at him, studying his face for a moment.
"Appreciate it," he said, shaking his head. His tone was polite but firm. "The wing system's complex. Military tech, proprietary design. Probably something only I can handle."
No system notification about a change in affinity. Veyric knew Sam didn't trust him, and that was fair.
They'd just met. Sam hadn't seen him do anything firsthand. A stranger saying "I might be able to help" wasn't enough to hand over your most critical piece of equipment. Anyone with sense would feel the same way.
Veyric nodded and let the subject drop without pressing it.
The atmosphere around the table kept drifting toward something warmer. Veyric looked at the scene in front of him, a tableful of superheroes eating together like it was the most normal thing in the world, and for a moment the whole thing felt surreal.
Peter was telling the story of his first time in the base, rocketing down the entrance slide.
Colossus listened with a perfectly straight face. Beast was polishing his glasses. Clint held his cup and watched Peter, the corner of his eye carrying something that was probably a suppressed laugh.
Natasha was listening too, but whenever her gaze swept across the group, it lingered on Veyric a fraction of a second longer than anyone else.
He didn't rush to speak. He worked through most of his salad, half-listening, half-running calculations in the back of his mind.
When the moment felt right, he set down his fork and turned to Hawkeye and Falcon. His tone was casual.
"By the way, you two were out there for a few days. Did you run into any other zombified heroes? Any intel on where they might be?"
The cafeteria went still.
Clint and Sam exchanged a look. Clint spoke first.
"Yeah."
Then, steady and measured, he began to talk.
---
Next Target 200PS