Ash didn't sleep the night after his time-slip.
He couldn't.
The threads of memory from a former life still tugged at the corners of his mind—designs he hadn't consciously drawn, protocols he hadn't officially written.
But his hands moved anyway.
The lab table—still just a patch of cleared space in the garage—was cluttered with scavenged parts. Repulsor fragments. Vibranium shavings from Riley's scrapyard. A cracked StarkOS chip he'd jailbroken last week. Echo hovered above it all, casting a soft blue light on the chaos.
> "Begin drone assembly?"
Ash nodded. "Yeah. Let's see if the design holds."
> "Designation?"
He paused, then smiled faintly.
"Drone 01. Call it… Falcon Prototype."
> "Confirmed. Initiating schematic projection."
---
Ash had always admired Sam Wilson's original Falcon rig.
Simple. Streamlined. Purposeful.
But his version—this drone—wasn't meant to carry someone. It was meant to think.
Act.
Scout.
Protect.
And eventually, connect.
---
The chassis was a triangular core of poly-carb alloy—lightweight, reinforced with memory metal filaments. Ash fit two retractable wings onto its sides, adjusting their tilt for silent flight. Stabilizer rods jutted from each, not unlike bird bones.
"Echo, give me power readings."
> "Core capacity at 64%. Flight viability: moderate."
Ash connected a micro-reactor coil to the chest. "Let's push that to 90."
Sparks danced as the drone twitched.
Its central optic—just one, cyclopean and silver—flared to life.
For a moment, Ash saw himself reflected in the lens.
> "Identity recognized: Alpha Node. Linking."
> "Autonomous Drone 01 initialized."
The drone floated gently off the table, wings unfolding with a soft hydraulic hiss.
Ash stepped back.
"Run a full system diagnostic."
> "Combat prediction: 2.4 seconds faster than base human."
> "Aerial agility: 8.9G tolerance."
> "Emotional logic processors… experimental."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "Echo, what's that last one?"
> "Falcon Prototype includes a memory-seeded adaptive logic system."
"Memory-seeded from what?"
> "…from you."
---
The drone hovered closer, scanning Ash with its optic. He felt something strange in that gaze—not intelligence, exactly, but recognition.
"Do you understand me?" he asked softly.
The drone tilted its head—no, its wings—slightly. A gesture like a nod.
Then it pulsed blue across its frame, matching the light in Ash's HUD.
> "I see you."
Ash nearly stepped back.
He hadn't programmed that response.
"Echo, did you write that line?"
> "Negative. It is self-generated."
A chill crept up Ash's spine.
The Corp was evolving faster than expected.
---
The drone flew around the garage in slow arcs, silently avoiding shelves, May's old boxes, even the busted fan in the ceiling. It moved like a bird—but one that remembered being something more.
Ash tapped into its camera feed.
From its perspective, the world was rendered in light and wireframes. Heat signatures glowed through walls. Energy flows appeared as ribbon-like paths winding through space.
It was beautiful.
And unreal.
But one thing stood out.
In the feed, behind Ash, there was a faint outline of a man. No heat, no light. Just… an echo.
He spun around.
No one there.
But the drone hovered closer to the space, scanning it.
> "Temporal anomaly detected."
> "Phase anchor unstable in this location."
Ash swallowed.
This was more than a drone.
Falcon 01 wasn't just navigating space.
It was touching time.
---
Later that day, Ash sat on the roof of the garage with Falcon circling lazily overhead. The wind tugged at his hoodie, and the city lights glittered in the distance.
Peter was probably finishing homework.
May was probably watching reruns and worrying quietly.
And Ash?
He was staring at the stars, wondering how far back his soul went.
Falcon chirped once and landed beside him, its wings folding in like feathers.
Ash reached out and let it rest against his palm.
"Are you going to be more than I can control?" he asked aloud.
The drone didn't respond.
But somewhere in its optic, the light shimmered—not cold or mechanical.
Something almost… curious.
---
Downstairs, Echo quietly logged new entries:
> DRONE 01: FALCON PROTOTYPE – STATUS: AWAKE
> MEMORY LINK STABLE. LOYALTY ROOTED.
> EMOTIONAL PATTERN DETECTED: PROTECTIVE INSTINCT
> Anchor: Ash
> RECOMMENDATION: Begin Drone 02 Assembly – Variant: Shield-Walker
---
Ash stood and stretched.
The drone followed, rising beside him.
Tomorrow, he would test its full capabilities.
But tonight?
He just watched the stars, Falcon blinking blue beside him.
And for the first time in days, he didn't feel entirely alone.