As Adam returned to the abandoned warehouse, he walked to the ship giving Yelena a wave, suddenly a massive psionic power smashed into Adam's mind out of nowhere, Adam staggered and grabbed his head, the Mind Stone began to glow within his suit, causing yellow lines to appear in the shapes of runes moving out from the center of his chest.
Yelena ran over to catch Adam before he fell, "Adam.. Adam, what's wrong.... happened.... " Yelena's voice faded, the pain was intense making his ears ring, his connection to the Mind Stone had blocked a mental attack.
It wasn't vicious or meant to hurt, but an intrusion nonetheless, someone had tried to read his mind, a very powerful psychic. Upon the first intrusion attempt they tried again, but using another tactic, which is what caused the Mind Stone to begin to glow brighter. Adam had begun to use the Power stone to feed the Mind Stone, adding power to help fight off the intrusion.
Adam rarely ever practiced the abilities of the Mind Stone, so such a powerful psychic attack had caught him completely off guard. Trying to counter and answer back was difficult with his level of skill in mental defenses, so he used the Power Stone to overwhelm them with brute strength, like a mental Hulk Smash.
After Adam resolved the attack he fainted, drained and mentally exhausted from such an attack, the last thought that came to his mind was a name.
Eve quickly opened the Prometheus' loading ramp and activated a hard light platform that appeared below Yelena's feet and brought them up to the ship.
"Is he ok? Do you know what happened?" Yelena asked Eve worriedly, who was guiding her to the medical bay on the ship.
"Yes, he is suffering from mental exhaustion right now, a mental attack was launched at him. I'm not sure what exactly they were after, information, security codes, or even to check his memories, it is impossible to know, but Adam didn't think it was maliciously done, rather that it was originally a worldwide scan, his defenses had activated which peeked the interest of the person so they made another attempt." Eve explained what she had felt from Adam as the attack happened.
"Mental attack? Who? How?" Yelena looked at Eve, who just shook her head. "I only got a name, before I was cut off from my usual connection, something about a man named Charles Xavier. But that isn't what is important, somehow I was locked out of his mind, that shouldn't be possible. Unless...." Eve stated as she began to run scans on Adam's body.
A holographic image of Adam's naked body showed just above him, Yelena's face turned beet red.
"This... This is amazing." Eve said as the image began to show the insides of Adam, particularly the implants that were within him.
They were humming with power, synchronizing with not only the three stones with the suit but also the Reality Stone, it's liquid form completely disappeared, in its place a red gem that bounced and rocked within the container it was held in.
Suddenly the Reality Stone pulsed, a dark red light shown brilliantly then vanished. Eve quickly scanned the suit and found it snug in place in the slot meant for the stones, the four stones synchronized their flashes with the implants.
Eve watched as Adam's body slowly changed, his muscles grew even denser along with his bones, the implants within his eyes and the Neural Dentrites within his brain hummed and changed, it began to link even more neural pathways within his brain, which caused something similar to a lightning storm within his brain.
Arcs of lightning were firing all across his mind, slowly even the air around Adam crackled with energy causing Yelena to have to stand back.
Within Adams mind, he saw a vast plain, of black ground and a white cloudless sky. He gazed out in all directions seeing nothing, only a feeling of silence, of peace. Ever since he arrived in this universe he hasn't known this peace in a long time.
He was constantly planning, constantly training, constantly moving forward. This feeling was refreshing.
"You finally show up." A voice from out of nowhere was heard, it seemed from every direction. "You know it isn't exactly healthy to not sleep, you don't give your brain the chance to actually process your gains." The voice continued, while Adam went on guard and didn't reply, but then a sudden realization hit him.
"Am I dreaming?" Adam couldn't help but voice out as he thought back on his time after he woken up. He began to realize it was true, although he meditated during his training sessions he honestly couldn't remember the last time he actually slept.
"Yes and no. This is the astral plane, right now your body sleeps, your body has our technology implanted within, they are currently going through some upgrades. Long overdue, you're lucky they didn't overheat, you must give them rest to grow." The voice said in a scalding manner.
"Your tech?" Adam asked, but then he thought of something, "Forerunner..."
"Good, that is correct. These are truly remarkable implants, much better than those of your brethren. They are exactly the way we designed them to be and better in some ways even." The voice continued to give his opinion on the implants.
"But how? Who are you?" Adam asked, the voice was a bit familiar, like he knew who it was, but it was just right there, just out of reach to remember.
"I am you, and you are me, but before I was you, my birth name was Shadow-of-Sundered-Star, and later in my life I was called Didact." The voice no longer came from all around, it came from directly behind Adam.
His mind shook at that name, anyone who has played the Halo games knew exactly who the Forerunner who now stood before Adam after he spun around and took a fighting stance.
There in front of him stood the Forerunner known as Didact, he stood at a towering 11 feet tall, he was a towering figure over any fully armored SPARTAN, he wore a black cloak with a hood pulled over, barely hiding the bestial features his face had, his red deep-set eyes stared into Adams.
His skin was a dark brown with quill-like fur covering parts of his body, he was ripped and weighed at least 800 pounds, nothing but muscle.
"Fuck me. You'd think I would be used to this by now, I've had to beat you like three fucking times already, damn do you ever stay down. Fuck." Was all Adam could voice out, he was ill prepared for this guy, no armor, no weapons. 'I gotta fist fight with a friggin giant with more muscles than muscle beach in California. Wonderful.'
Didact was a Forerunner Promethean and held an extremely high status in Forerunner society and was the Protector of the Ecumene, which was the Forerunner's title which was similar to Supreme Commander on the human side, head of the entire Forerunner military.
"Humans, so willing to even fight themselves. As I said I am no longer Didact, I am you and you are me."
His towering figure just shook has head, as Adam stayed in his stance.
"What do you mean, you are me and I am you? I'm obviously human, you just said so yourself. And don't you hate humans?" Adam asked, his mind raced to make sense of his words, but then a thought came to mind. His DNA wasn't all human.
"How does that human saying go again, was it 'Bingo'? Yes, I am not sure how I am within a human myself, my guess would be genetic modification and engineering. You would've made a fine specimen for my wife." Didact laughed to himself.
"Well I can figure out that much, but that still doesn't answer how the fuck I am seeing you and talking with you now." Adam said as he relaxed a bit, he definitely didn't seem like his usual mad self he became after he encountered the Gravemind.
"Well, what do you know about genetic memory?" Didact asked as he turned and sat down on the pitch black ground and looked at Adam, his piercing red eyes stared into Adam.
"Do you mean like turtles and fish? They come out of their eggs, and know exactly where to go, without being raised or shown it by their parents, most reptiles are like that too. But that doesn't explain you. And don't say I'm a lizard-man hybrid cause so god help me I will find a gun and shoot you." Adam asked incredulously, he couldn't see any correlation between his question and what he asked him.
"You have my DNA, my genetic memories, you are using Forerunner implants, implants that are reacting to your Forerunner side, my side. The implants are meant to grow stronger, usually it can be gradually increased but the trigger for the systems respecing themselves and make improvements is sleep. I have centuries of battle experience within my DNA, make sure to use it well. I only ask one thing, don't do as your predecessors before you. Don't rebuild the Halo Rings. The Flood is an abomination." Didact explained to Adam.
"Wait, so you're a manifestation of my DNA activating, you sure you're not just a hallucination? I mean is that a trait to the Forerunner species?" Adam asked as he relaxed but kept his guard up just in case.
"Yes, like you we were heavy into gene manipulation, that was why we have so many variations, even now, seeing myself thru your eyes, this was not how I looked when I was born, we unlocked our genes which allowed for mutations, but it can come at a cost, the mutation can affect the mind." Didact said as he brought his large six-fingered hand to his head, giving it a few taps.
"Yea that's for sure, you definitely went mad." Adam couldn't help but nod, he remembered having to fight him each time, his madness was more and more pronounced each time the guy came back from the dead, or at least you were led to believe you killed him each time.
"The only reason we can speak is because not only have you not slept in so long, causing the implants to store the adjustments, but there is an outside force, some energy source that is reacting with our technology. I have never seen such a thing before." Didact responded as he reached forward and wiped the black ground to reveal Adams body. The ground became like a clear glass, revealing what was happening in the physical world.
Streams of blue, red, yellow and purple were coursing around his body. "The Infinity Stones." Adam said, shocked that he was not only able to see himself so clearly but what was happening within himself.
"Stones? Well that is new. The energy from these stones is highly compatible with our technology. Puzzling." Didact pondered as he looked at the energies being pulled into the implants, making them more efficient.
"Are there more of these Infinity Stones?" Didact asked as he stared at the beautiful sight below them, the different colors blending together, giving dazzling displays.
"Yea, two more actually." Adam said he then tried to force himself back into his body.
"Don't. Let it run its course, you must obtain these other two rocks. Become what we couldn't." Didact finally looked up from the sight below as he felt Adam trying to leave.
"And what is that?" Adam asked, he had wondered why the Forerunner civilization did so many modifications to themselves.
"Apex predators, we modified ourselves, looking for the ultimate warrior within. Some modified their genes for higher intelligence, much like my wife, the Librarian. Me, I am modified to fight, to defend, to protect. I am you, and you are me. So what are we? What were we designed for?" Didact asked as he stared at Adam as he began to slowly fade.
Adam pondered those words, they seemed to resonate with his blood, he could feel his body down below him.
As Adam's astral form clinched his fist, so too did Adam's physical body. "Fight. Defend. Protect. Fight what's before me. Defend those beside me. Protect those behind me." Adam said as a renewed determination flashed across his eyes.
"Spoken like a true Promethean Warrior. Hold true to yourself, use my skills, spread our name across the galaxy." Didact laughed as he completely faded away leaving only Adam standing alone.
"Damn it he didn't say how long to wait. If this is the Astral Plane for real, this place is not for dawdling around in. There is some seriously dangerous shit here, Shadow King, or Legion maybe, oh and that bald punk Xavier. I don't know whether to punch him or hug him when I see him, I could tell he was doing a scan of the planet, probably to find more mutants, but he didn't have to come that second time for a more direct hit." Adam said as he began to look around, he was beginning to detect subtle changes on the astral plain.
Adam watched as his body changed, it grew a little taller, he could feel the power within himself growing, but it was very chaotic, as if it had no direction. Seeing this, a thought came to Adam's mind, 'What if I tried to control the mutations, that was I don't end up looking less human and more Forerunner, that would make things difficult in leading other humans.'