Marvel: Empire of Power-Chapter 70: The First Cohort, a Pacific Crucible

The creation of the "Project Legionnaire" template consumed nearly all of Elias Thorne's available System Energy and left him psychically drained for days, but the potential it represented was transformative. He now possessed the means to create Tier 3 super-soldiers, loyal only to him, each a formidable combatant with enhanced strength, regeneration, adaptive combat skills, and even nascent energy manipulation. This was a quantum leap beyond his Feral Strikers.

His first priority was selecting candidates for this "First Cohort" of Legionnaires. He didn't rush. The [Praetorian Guard Loyalty Protocol] was designed to be unbreakable, but Elias understood that imprinting such power and devotion onto an unworthy or unstable individual could be catastrophic. He, Thomas MacIntyre, and Anya Petrova (whose Archer-enhanced observational skills and growing understanding of human psychology made her an adept judge of character) meticulously vetted the most elite members of Thorne's Guard – those who had demonstrated exceptional courage, unwavering loyalty under pressure, and a stable mental fortitude.

They selected five men. Two were hardened veterans Thomas had personally recruited from his old regiment. One was a former RCMP officer known for his iron will and investigative mind. Another was a brilliant young engineer from "Blackwood Advanced Designs" (one of Elias's R&D fronts) who had risked his life to prevent industrial sabotage. The fifth was, surprisingly, a quiet academic, a linguist and historian Finch had recommended, who possessed an unexpectedly fierce moral core and a deep, quiet loyalty to Elias's "vision" (as much as Finch understood it). All underwent rigorous psychological screening by Anya and a series of loyalty tests designed by Elias himself.

Their existing loyalty ratings were all above 90% before the process even began.

The empowerment process for each Legionnaire was conducted individually in Elias's shielded Montreal vault. It was an intense, energy-draining affair, costing [250 System Energy Units] per soldier, but mercifully, no further Prime Essence Shards. Elias's energy reserves, though vast, were significantly depleted by the time the fifth Legionnaire emerged, transformed.

The results were spectacular. Each man emerged physically perfected, radiating an aura of contained power. Their strength was easily double that of a Feral Striker, their reflexes lightning fast. They healed from simulated injuries with startling speed. Their eyes held a new, keen intelligence, and a chillingly absolute, almost worshipful devotion to Elias Thorne, their creator. The System confirmed: [Legionnaire Cohort Alpha (5 Units) – Successfully Created. Loyalty: 100% (Praetorian Protocol Stable). Power Level: Tier 3 (Mid). Combat Integration: Beginning Field Acclimation.]

Thomas MacIntyre, witnessing the transformation of men he had personally trained, felt a mixture of awe and profound unease. These Legionnaires were... different. His Feral Strikers were primal beasts honed for battle. These new soldiers were like demigods, their power more refined, their loyalty less instinctual and more... ideologically absolute. It was a power that could save the world, or burn it to cinders, depending entirely on the will of the young man who now commanded them.

Elias knew he couldn't keep these new assets hidden in Canada indefinitely. They needed field experience, combat data to accelerate their integration and unlock their full potential. The European theatre, with Logan and Miller already operating as a highly effective (if chaotic) anti-Hydra spearhead, was too politically sensitive for the overt deployment of a new, unknown superhuman team. The Pacific, however, was a different story.

Namor, still Elias's reluctant but increasingly valuable ally, had recently reported a surge in Japanese activity around a cluster of previously uninhabited volcanic islands in the volatile "Ring of Fire." It wasn't the "Oceanic Purity" cultists this time, but elite Imperial Japanese Army units, accompanied by scientists and strange, heavily shielded equipment. They were establishing a fortified research base, codenamed "Project Amaterasu" (after the Japanese sun goddess), supposedly focused on harnessing geothermal and "telluric" energies for a new type of superweapon.

[JAPANESE IMPERIAL ARMY – PROJECT AMATERASU (PACIFIC RING OF FIRE) DETECTED. Objective: Unstable Geothermal/Telluric Energy Weaponization. Threat Level: HIGH (Potential for Wide-Scale Destructive Capability/Unforeseen Environmental Impact). Opportunity: Acquire Advanced Energy Research Data, Potential Prime Essence Signatures from Unique Geological/Technological Sources, Elite Enemy Combat Data.]

This was the perfect crucible for his new Legionnaires. A remote, high-stakes target, technologically advanced enemy forces, and the potential for acquiring unique energy data that could further his own research into [Energy Siphon/Manipulation].

Elias dispatched Thomas MacIntyre and the entire Feral Striker pack (Dubois, Macgregor, Lemaire, and Beaulieu) along with the five new Legionnaires aboard the Sea Serpent, which had been further upgraded by O'Malley into a true mobile command and special operations platform. Namor would provide long-range reconnaissance and oceanic support.

The insertion onto the primary island of Project Amaterasu was a multi-pronged amphibious and aerial assault, a display of Elias's growing military sophistication. While the Feral Striker pack, led by Beaulieu, made a silent underwater approach to disable coastal defenses and secure a beachhead, the five Legionnaires, equipped with experimental, O'Malley-designed grav-chutes (another piece of anachronistic "Blackwood" tech derived from salvaged Hydra research and Elias's own System insights), made a daring, high-altitude, low-opening drop directly onto the island's central volcanic caldera, where the main research facility was believed to be located.

It was a baptism of fire. The Japanese garrison, elite Imperial Army shock troops, were heavily armed and deeply entrenched, utilizing the volcanic terrain to their advantage. They also possessed prototype energy weapons, powered by unstable geothermal batteries, that fired searing beams of concentrated heat.

The Legionnaires hit the ground like avenging angels. Their Tier 3 strength allowed them to punch through concrete bunkers and tear apart machine gun nests. Their enhanced healing shrugged off glancing energy blasts and shrapnel wounds. Their innate [Adaptive Combat Matrix] allowed them to instantly utilize captured Japanese weaponry with deadly proficiency, while their own [Channeled Energy Deflection/Reinforcement] ability manifested as shimmering, personal force fields that could briefly absorb or deflect energy blasts, or as concussive pulses from their fists that could stagger even armored opponents. Their [Tactical Cohesion Protocol] was a marvel to behold (via Elias's remote sensory link), as they moved and fought with the flawless coordination of a single, multi-limbed organism, covering each other's advances, creating feints, and overwhelming enemy strongpoints with calculated, brutal efficiency.

Meanwhile, the Feral Striker pack, having secured the beachhead, rampaged through the island's coastal defenses, their bone claws and primal fury sowing terror among the Japanese rear guard. Dubois was a battering ram, Macgregor a silent wraith, Lemaire an urban phantom amidst the bunkers, and Beaulieu a deadly amphibious predator in the coastal caves and tunnels.

Thomas MacIntyre, coordinating the assault from the Sea Serpent, felt a surge of grim pride. These were his men, forged by his training and Elias Thorne's impossible power, and they were unleashing hell upon the Emperor's chosen.

The heart of Project Amaterasu was a vast, geothermal power plant built into the caldera, tapping directly into the volcano's molten core. Here, the lead Japanese scientist, a fanatical Dr. Kenji Tanaka, was preparing to test his "Telluric Wave Cannon," a device intended to trigger localized earthquakes and tsunamis. Guarding him were not just soldiers, but two immense, genetically engineered komodo dragons, their scales thick as armor plating, their saliva dripping with a corrosive neurotoxin.

The Legionnaires faced these beasts. It was a battle of demigods against monsters. One Legionnaire, the former RCMP officer, used his energy deflection to create a temporary shield while two others flanked the creatures, their combined strength and agility allowing them to topple one of the behemoths. The linguist Legionnaire, surprisingly, discovered a knack for minor concussive blasts, using them to disorient the remaining komodo dragon, allowing the engineer Legionnaire to sever its primary tendons with a salvaged katana, his movements fluid and precise.

Dr. Tanaka, seeing his creations fall, attempted to overload the geothermal core, intending to take the island, and everyone on it, with him in a volcanic cataclysm. But the Legionnaire captain (the senior of the two ex-army veterans Thomas had recruited), moving with blinding speed, incapacitated Tanaka with a single, perfectly aimed concussive palm strike to the head, his enhanced intellect instantly calculating the necessary force and trajectory.

With Project Amaterasu secured, the research data and surviving (though heavily sedated) komodo dragon samples recovered, and demolition charges set, Elias's forces made a clean exfiltration, guided away from the ensuing volcanic eruption by Namor, who then "cleansed" the area with a targeted deep-sea trench collapse, ensuring no trace of the Japanese facility remained.

The System feedback was immense:

[JAPANESE IMPERIAL ARMY "PROJECT AMATERASU" DECIMATED. TELLURIC WEAPON PROTOTYPE NEUTRALIZED. ADVANCED GEOTHERMAL/EXOTIC ENERGY RESEARCH SECURED. KAIJU-CLASS BIO-WEAPONS (KOMODO DRACO-GIGAS) CONTAINED/SAMPLED.]

[LEGIONNAIRE COHORT ALPHA – COMBAT PERFORMANCE (VS. ELITE TROOPS/ENERGY WEAPONS/BIO-ENGINEERED KAIJU): EXCEPTIONAL. ALL UNITS GAINED CRITICAL COMBAT DATA & EVOLUTIONARY STRESS-TESTING. Tactical Cohesion: Optimal. Individual Specializations Beginning to Emerge (e.g., Energy Projection, Enhanced Durability Variants).]

[PRIME ESSENCE SHARDS ACQUIRED: +2.5 (from Dr. Tanaka – significant human augmentation/geothermal energy infusion – & two Komodo Draco-Gigas). Total Shards: 3.6/5.0 (Elias had spent most of his surplus on template genesis and empowering the first cohort; these new Shards were a welcome replenishment).]

[NEW RESEARCH PATH UNLOCKED: BIO-KAIJU GENESIS/CONTROL (EXTREMELY DANGEROUS – REQUIRES ADVANCED GENETIC ENGINEERING/PSIONIC CAPABILITIES). ELEMENT X INTERACTION WITH GEOTHERMAL/TELLURIC ENERGIES: DATA POINTS ACQUIRED – POTENTIAL FOR WEAPONIZED ISOTOPE STABILIZATION.]

Elias Thorne now possessed a proven cohort of Tier 3 super-soldiers, his own Praetorian Guard. They had faced a crucible in the Pacific and emerged victorious, demonstrating capabilities that rivaled, or perhaps even exceeded, a nascent Captain America. His power base was no longer just about mirrored abilities or lower-tier empowerments. He was now a true creator, a general of a superhuman legion. The implications for the ongoing war, and the shadowy conflicts beyond it, were terrifying and exhilarating. The world was his chessboard, and his new queens were about to change the entire game.