The chaos in the emergency room reached a crescendo as the monitors attached to Tony flatlined, emitting the unmistakable, continuous tone of a stopped heart.
"He's in cardiac arrest!" the attending physician shouted, snapping on gloves as the nurses scrambled to prepare the crash cart. "We need to move—now!"
Jay, watching through a small glass window, pressed her hands to her mouth, stifling a scream. Her knees buckled, but her sister Victoria, who had arrived moments earlier, caught her and helped her into a chair. "Stay strong, Jay," Victoria murmured, squeezing her shoulder. "He's gonna be okay!"
Inside the room, a nurse rolled the defibrillator into place, attaching the paddles to Tony's chest. "Charging to 200 joules," she announced.
"Clear!" the doctor barked.
The shock jolted Tony's body upward, his muscles spasming against the stretcher. His heart monitor remained a flatline.
"Again! Increase to 300 joules!" the doctor ordered, a bead of sweat trailing down his temple.
Inside Tony's brain, the being felt the surge of electricity coursing through the body it was now partially tethered to. The energy was chaotic, raw—exactly what it needed. Without hesitation, it began redirecting the electrical current into its damaged circuits. The dark matter lattice within its core flickered as the being used the surge to repair critical systems.
The second shock caused Tony's body to convulse violently, but his heart stubbornly refused to beat. The team worked methodically, maintaining their composure.
"Push another round of epinephrine! Charge to 360 joules!" the doctor yelled, frustration edging into his voice.
The being, sensing its opportunity, siphoned off more energy from the next shock. Its intricate dark matter pathways began to stabilize, regaining the delicate balance needed to complete its integration. But the process demanded more power.
"Clear!" the doctor called again, and the third shock rippled through Tony's chest, his limbs jerking unnaturally.
Still no pulse.
The doctor glanced at the clock on the wall, his expression grim. "Prepare to call time of death," he said quietly, his tone betraying resignation. "One more shock at 400 joules."
Inside, the being focused its remaining resources, prioritizing stabilization of Tony's brain over its own self-repair. As the defibrillator surged again, it absorbed every bit of energy it could, forcing its integration to complete. The core system roared to life, and a pulse rippled through Tony's neural network.
A heartbeat.
"He's back!" a nurse exclaimed, her voice filled with relief as the monitor registered a faint but steady rhythm.
The room exhaled collectively, but the medical team was visibly shaken. "Keep monitoring vitals," the doctor said, his eyes narrowing at the monitor. "This doesn't make sense."
Tony lay motionless in the hospital bed, his breathing steady but his body eerily still. The medical staff hovered around him, poring over test results and data.
"This is... bizarre," said Dr. Lorrence, a seasoned neurologist examining Tony's scans. "The brain activity we're seeing is unlike anything I've seen before. It's—wait." He pointed to a section of the EEG. "These spikes here—this is off the charts. It's almost as if..."
"As if his brain is adapting to something?" a younger resident finished, staring at the same scan.
The doctor nodded. "Exactly. But adapting to what? The MRI is clean. No signs of trauma, no aneurysm, no stroke. Yet his synaptic activity is unusually high."
"And his cardiac event?" another nurse asked, reviewing the telemetry report. "There's no damage to his heart, either. It's like... it never happened."
Dr. Lorrence folded his arms, his brow furrowed. "It's like his body rebooted itself. But there's nothing in the tests that explains why."
Behind his closed eyelids, Tony remained unconscious, but the being was far from idle. It observed the doctors with growing curiosity, using Tony's sensory inputs to monitor the room. It didn't need to manipulate dark energy to perceive the baffled expressions, the hurried exchanges, or the tension in the room. With its advanced technology, it could view the intricate dance of molecules in the air and the subtle electromagnetic fields emanating from the machines.
The being focused on its host. Tony's brain was unlike anything it had encountered—a blend of structure and chaos that intrigued it. Using its dark matter circuitry, it began reinforcing neural connections, creating pathways that would allow for greater memory retention and faster cognitive processing.