I always thought that someone like Hana Song is burdened by her responsibility to safeguard her country South Korea, only to find out that Busan and Seoul suffers quite the devastation from Leviathan in 1997 and the country never truly recovered.

  To know that her great nation is currently under the Chinese United Imperial rule left her in a slight despair. The monarchy is supported by the "Yàngban . A dedicated force of militarized parahumans that serve the Imperial family.

  I know that they number in the hundreds, When reading about Lung's experiences during my time in my past life, the parahumans within the CUI are heavily regulated. Anyone who is publicly discovered as having powers is forced to join the Yangban in service of the emperor and the state.

  The Yàngban has a cult philosophy, where all semblances of individuality are discouraged, members are assigned numbers based either upon seniority or the order in which they joined forcefully of course.

  That is not to say that there aren't capes living in the CUI in secret who have not yet joined the Yangban. It is not clear if the monarchy has de facto control over the Yangban or if the Yangban is using the imperial family as a puppet to present the veneer of legitimacy. At the time of Scion's attack it is noted that the emperor is only a 14 year old boy I think. Memory is a little spotty on that part.

  . It is also unclear if the imperial family has parahumans within it or not. I would speculate that they do not. At the time of the Golden Morning the CUI comprised of approximately 300 Million people. Presumably prior to Scion's attack their population was much higher. The CUI is very insular, and does not trust "the west" in general or The Protectorate specifically. And to be fair they are sort of right,

  The Protectorate were being directly controlled by Cauldron. It is unclear what affect Cauldron has on the Yangban or the CUI. Presumably (given the scope of the Doormaker and Contessa's powers) they do have some plans ongoing within the CUI, though given the stigma against parahumans and the strict concentration of power within the CUI it's probably not as pronounced as in the U.S. and elsewhere.

  Knowing this, I did promise her that we will try to somehow free South Korea from the Yangban rule. In order to do that, I will need to revive the rest of her team from South Korea that could liberate that country with the help of the Terran military might. Something to think about the future, if we ever survive our next Endbringer battle.

  The things I do to promise a cute Korean girl, She reminds me of this girl team I used to coach back in my past life. I guess some things never changed. It’s hard to say no to a bubbly extrovert girl, somehow?

  They are my kryptonite.

  The HUD lit up the moment I throttled forward.

  I toggled assault configuration fully online. The wings locked tighter, reducing drag. Internal mass shifted forward, the mech’s center of gravity aligning perfectly with the direction of travel. The Gatling housings stayed cold, safeties green.

  Speed climbed again.

  The HUD flashed a caution I ignored.

  Velocity climbed in clean, disciplined increments, three hundred knots, four while the Viking’s assault thrusters bit into the air like a predator finally unchained. The cockpit vibration smoothed out as the flight computer compensated, stabilizers adjusting in microbursts that never made it to my hands, so it doesn't shake that much.

  I’ve gotten used to flying after countless flight simulator back in the Command Centre.

  Tokki slid into my peripheral vision on the right, Hana’s MEKA keeping pace with aggressive confidence. Her machine wasn’t as aerodynamically efficient as the Viking in assault mode, but it didn’t need to be. Tokki cheated using vector thrust, overclocked reaction jets, and a pilot who treated inertia like a suggestion rather than a rule, that girl really doesn’t fear death at all.

  “Race you,” she’d said earlier.

  I hadn’t answered. I didn’t need to. I pushed the throttle past nominal limits while I taunt her,. The Viking responded without complaint and boosted away leaving her in the dust, Or I thought I was.

  Altitude: nine thousand feet.

  Heading: due west.

  She was good. Better than most combat pilots I’d flown with. How could two mech looking so similar divert so much in terms of engineering paths? Makes you wonder perhaps, Terran tech could use some new injection in ideas. Although I wouldn’t change it. There’s always tradeback afterall. I’d be sacrificing a niche for diversity.

  Tokki surged ahead briefly, Hana dumping thrust in a reckless burn that would’ve rattled a lesser frame apart. Her MEKA corkscrewed upward, then cut hard left, using a vertical loop to convert excess speed into position.

  Clever.

  I countered by dropping altitude.

  Five thousand feet. Four thousand now..

  The Viking liked dense air. The engines dug in harder, acceleration sharpening instead of bleeding off. Buildings rushed up to meet us, the city suddenly close enough to touch. I skimmed the skyline, letting the flight computer thread me through radio towers and half-finished cranes within the docks.

  Tokki followed, a half-second behind now.

  I felt her eagerness to surpass me now,

  Assault platforms dominate straight-line engagements.

  Always have, she doesn't stand a chance in a straight dog fight in Air space.

  The hospital came into view ahead, its white exterior stark against the darker blocks around it. Emergency lights flickered on the roof. Helipad clear. Airspace crowded with nothing heavier than news drones and police birds, all of them scrambling out of our way the moment our transponders screamed priority.

  I eased back just enough to avoid overshooting.

  Tokki pulled alongside me again, close enough that I could see the faint shimmer of heat distortion around her thrusters. Hana was pushing her machine hard, harder than she needed to keep close to me even if her mech isn’t design for high speed flying.

  She’s a pro gamer alright, her competitiveness and drive checks the fuck out.

  I respected that.

  “Hospital in sight,” I muttered, more to myself than anyone else.

  The Viking decelerated cleanly, bleeding speed without instability, engines humming as they transitioned toward hover parameters and revert back to fighter mode landing and skidding on the pavement using the thrust momentum to counter the velocity for landing . Tokki flared beside me, landing profile already forming but much more smoother due the her vector thrusters,

  Race over.

  I arrived first in less than a second.

  Close enough to matter. Close enough to remember.

  Hana didn’t even power Tokki down all the way.

  The MEKA hovered beside the helipad, thrusters whining in short, irritated bursts as if the machine itself knows it just lose the race and is sulking. I dont know if that’s intentional or just Hana Song trolling,

  I stepped the Viking into a controlled hover, landing struts deploying with a muted thud as Terran dampeners ate the remaining inertia. The moment my canopy lifted, I could already hear her.

  “ Ah, yeolbadne! Chagesso! That was bull!” Hana said, pulling herself halfway out of Tokki’s cockpit, helmet under one arm, dark hair plastered to her forehead with sweat. “I dumped the thrust, vectored up the turning speed, used a loop to convert speed, rode the wind shear over the bay? Tried everything~ I even shaved drag mid-flight and I still lose by a mere second?!”

  I glanced over at Tokki, then back at her. “You flew it clean but, no offense, Tokki isn’t exactly design for air to air combat”

  “That’s not helping Ajuhssi” She jabbed a thumb back at her mech. “I’ve flown combat intercepts over Busan under live fire with this baby, MEKA doctrine is built around air denial. I shouldn’t lose a straight-line race like that? I’ve checked the VIking’s blueprint, there shouldn’t be an issue with surpassing flight speed even if its less aerodynamic.”

  I sealed the Viking down and climbed out, boots hitting concrete. The machine loomed behind me, wings locked in assault configuration, profile tight and predatory even at rest. I gave it an absent pat along the armored plating.

  “You’re thinking like a mech pilot,” I said. “The Viking isn’t exactly a pure mech”

  Hana frowned. “It flies well enough. Don’t tell me there’s a reason the Assault mode matters?”

  “You really need to look under the hud when it’s in flight mode, see the simulation back at base then compare the data” I corrected.

  She folded her arms, listening despite herself and I sighed, sometimes being the only guy with Terran tech knowledge in their build makes this rather lonely, Perhaps I should bring in some tech engineers from the Engram, delegate it to people, the next batch of close is coming,

  “In assault mode, the Viking’s entire frame is optimized around air superiority. Not versatility. There’s no need for showmanship. It’s built to dominate an engagement envelope from the moment it commits.” I gestured along the wing structure. “Tighter wing lock, forward-shifted mass, engines tuned for sustained thrust instead of burst acceleration. You burn hot and fast. I burn steadily and lethally.”

  Hana’s eyes flicked back to her MEKA, then to the Viking again. I could see the calculations already spinning in her head.

  “That’s not it, we were neck to neck” she said slowly. But somehow I had to overcompensate it with skills and technique just to keep up, I’ve checked the specs, we run on the same engine!”

  “Not exactly? Terran doctrine assumes superiority of the battlespace. The Viking can operate in the stratosphere and fly like a fighter jet” I shrugged. “ Design matters, Wind drag, aerodynamic design for maximum lift, things that traditional mech design don’t account for in their design even if they could fly.”

  She let out a breath, equal parts frustration and admiration. “So it’s not that I flew badly.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “You flew perfectly for a machine designed to do ten things well using a bipedal design.”

  She snorted. “And yours can morph in two modes,geez, I get it, I get it..”

  “Its just one aspect that the viking does well in the sky, nothing to envy about, compared to your Tokki’s versatility, yours could probably outperform the viking in a straight fight.”

  Hana stared at the Viking a moment longer, then cracked a grin that was sharp and dangerous in the way only competitive people manage. “Fine. Next time, I will redesign Tokki’s with an assault profile.”

  I smiled back. “Will that even be a MEKA design anymore?”

  “Ahh shut up! Let me sulk in my salty tears!”

  The sliding doors parted and we walked straight into chaos. Brockton Bay General didn’t sound like a hospital anymore security shouting down corridors that echoed with running footsteps.Nurses eyes were shifty, Glad I didnt came here with my Commander outfit, I reverted back to my Spectre gear and hoodie, Sometimes the classics does have its own comfort.

  I stopped just inside the lobby,, and let my eyes do what they were trained to do as I scanned the place with the visor. The Undersiders sure did something..but I wasn’t sure what it is.

  Hana slowed beside me, Tokki’s pilot helmet clipped to her hip now, her gaze snapping from one exit to another. “Okay,” she muttered, “this is not normal hospital panic. Where is everyone?”

  A nurse bolted past us, pushing a crash cart with one wheel jammed, eyes wide and unfocused. Two orderlies followed, dragging a patient to a safer place, a panel that looked like it had been torn off a wall was actually smoking, What the hell did those punks do?

  “They’re gone, I think,” I said quietly.

  Hana looked at me. “Gone who?”

  “The Undersiders.”

  Hana swore under her breath. “You’re saying a bunch of teenage capes did all this?”

  “I’m saying someone planned for exactly this environment. Im guessing thats their super sleuth on the job, Tattletale but still…they gotta be quite desperate to actually damage the place”

  I stepped forward, scanning the floor. Scuff marks. Drag lines. A dropped restraint cuff, its casing warped like it had been microwaved from the inside out.

  I found Angela Ziegler in the middle of the storm she was trying desperately to contain. She stood near the nurses’ station, coat already stained with blood that wasn’t hers, tablet in hand, issuing rapid instructions with the calm precision of someone who refused to let panic take root.

  Two trauma teams moved at her word alone. Equipment was being rerouted. Patients were being consolidated. She wasn’t just doing damage control here, she was holding the hospital together by force of will together with Panacea and the rest of the doctors.

  Angela noticed us the moment we stepped into her line of sight. Relief flickered across her face, brief but genuine, before it hardened into frustration.

  “They escaped,” she said, not wasting breath on pleasantries.

  “I figured,” I replied. “Clean exit. No civilian casualties but they are injuries.”

  “Minimal,” she corrected. “Injuries, yes. Panic, yes. But they were… deliberate. They avoided lethal force.”

  Hana leaned against a wall, arms crossed, eyes sharp. “They were cuffed, yeah? Full dampeners. Military-grade Terran grade cuffs designed by Jason here, so what gives?.”

  Angela nodded. “Your design retains a certain flaw.”

  Well, that certainly put a critical hit on my ego, my very first original design of the Psi Dampers miniaturization and it failed splendidly. Monica’s prototype already showed it was still not working as well as intended, I knew because despite everything, Skidmark was somehow able to use the bare minimum of his powers.

  So I went back to the drawing board, increased the power and reduced the readout with extra microcheap, but even so, trying to make it compact I did have to sacrifice some design philosophy. The original Psi Dampers was the size of a building afterall, trying to fit a facility size equipment into tiny cuffs? That’s an engineering nightmare, so you have to cut corners and supplement the lack of design with something similar.

  Either way, Someone was still able to break and get out of it.

  I walked past her into the room where the Undersiders were detained and crouched, and picked up what was left of one of the cuffs. The casing was intact, no brute force method towards the noesteel design,, no micro-explosives. Internals, however, were fried.

  The defibrillator messes with the signal waves and somehow they were able to use the gap in that to disable the cuffs. Electronics were fried afterall.

  I exhaled slowly.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “They used a defib,” Angela continued. “One of them Grue created a localized disruption with his powers,Darkness, electromagnetic interference, something in that range. The shock from the defibrillator overloaded the dampeners’ feedback loop. After that, the cuffs were just expensive bracelets.”

  I turned the ruined device over in my hand, mind already racing through schematics, assumptions, blind spots. They weren’t supposed to be able to do that but they did. A flaw in the wavelength delivery.

  The dampeners were designed to suppress psionic but we somehow able to reverse engineer to block Shards wavelength for the parahuman biology, and even low-grade Terran neural activity was supposed to kick in, I designed a redundant failsafes layered on failsafes.These things were supposed to handle trained Ghost operatives, It truly is a design flaw afterall.

  “Damn,” Hana muttered. “That’s… actually kind of impressive.”

  I shot her a look.

  She shrugged. “I mean, from an engineering standpoint.You have to admit, that outside of the box thinking, and perhaps the’re just really lucky one of them have the power needed to disable it externally.”

  Angela studied my expression carefully. “You’re not angry are you Jason?”

  “No,” I said after a moment. “I’m just..heh, disappointed I guess. Thought I knew everything about Terran design doctrine, but over compensation and perhaps with proper testing, all of this could be avoided, I allowed this to happen, and it already happened before, Parahumans were dangerous, I knew it when the Merchants acted back then, even so…I put too much trust on the tech.”

  Because that was the real problem isn’t it? The tech isn’t absolute. Human creativity always finds a way to level the odds. but enough to exploit an edge case I hadn’t prioritized. Power interactions. Environmental tools. Human ingenuity under pressure.

  That was on me, I underestimate what the parahumans here can truly do thinking that my source of power has the upper hand to solve all things, it deos seem like this.

  “Ana is going to be furious,” Angela added, softer now. “She doesn’t like losing control of a situation. Especially to children.”

  “They’re not just children,” I said. “Not when they did this, And they’re learning fast.”

  I straightened, handing the broken cuff back to Angela. “I’ll take responsibility for the failure. I’ll update the dampener architecture. Adaptive shielding, EMP-resistant buffers, non-linear suppression fields. No more single-point overloads and certainly no more shortcuts, I’ll probably need Tobjorn and Monica’s help for a redesign. This was my slip.”

  Angela gave a tired smile. “You engineers always say that after the fact, Uncle Tobjorn said the same when he finds out the Titan Project was his fault..”

  “Well…maybe not that big a fuckup,” I admitted. “But most of us don’t get outplayed by a defibrillator…shit. This really bruised my ego a little. Thought I checklist all the box on this”

  Silence settled for a moment, broken only by distant alarms and hurried footsteps.

  Hana glanced toward the exit. “So… what now? Chase them?”

  I looked down the corridor again, imagining four teenagers disappearing into Brockton Bay’s maze of streets, bruised but alive, smarter than they’d been yesterday.

  Hana crouched, fingers brushing a scorch mark near a wall-mounted camera. “That doesn’t look like ABB work.”

  “No,” I agreed. “Bladed attack with high heat..”

  A security guard stumbled out of a side corridor, clutching his shoulder, blood seeping through his uniform. Hana straightened slowly. “Who else uses a high frequency blade?”

  I looked down the corridor the Undersiders had used, the one where the lights were still flickering, shadows stretching too long between pulses.

  Angela stopped mid-sentence.

  It was subtle for her but working with her for 2 weeks? You tend to notice certain quirks from Angela when she hesitates,the kind of hesitation only someone with decades of battlefield triage would show but I caught it. She only showed this side since I brought a certain edgelord Ninja back.

  Her eyes unfocused for half a second, hand tightening around the tablet like she was bracing herself.

  “Genji was injured.” she said quietly.

  She looked up at me then, concerned about cutting through her usual professional composure. “He’s not in recovery anymore but he was burned quite severely. He was cleared for observation and… went to the toilet, but I haven’t found him since…”

  Hana swore under her breath in Korean.

  Angela continued, voice controlled but strained. “I overheard some of he nurses saw him asking about the situation. The Undersiders. Their escape. He asked one question, which direction and then he was gone.I have a slight inking that Genji might be tracking them”

  So Genji really did go after the Undersiders, did some sort of altercation happened that he had to use his blade?

  Angela exhaled. “Jason, Genji was burned earlier today. Not critically, but enough that I ordered him to rest. The burns were… unusual Fire, yes but very much different than ordinary burns, He’s…your friend The Flame King did him in.”

  I opened my eyes. “Jinho that bastard…what the hell is he doing lately?”

  She nodded. “He intervened during an ABB incident. Four flame vehicles, heavy thermal output. Genji crossed paths and had an altercation, I haven’t managed to contacted Hanzo since he seldom bring anything with him.”

  Both Angela and Hana looked at me.

  “Don’t worry about that Hubae of mine, I’ll talk some sense to him when I find him,” I went on slowly, memories aligning themselves into something far uglier than coincidence. “You know, he used to run a bakery with his family in the market while I was working part time as a noodle maker across from his store. He could manipulate flour after triggering. He could manipulate flour and use it to make perfect bread, noodles, and pastries. Nice parents too”

  Hana frowned. “Flour doesn’t burn like that.”

  “Well, his powers is a little more unique than that. Could morph flour into any substance or material he want” I agreed. “But fire? Not sure why he settled on that and call himself the Fire King.”

  Angela’s eyes widened slightly.

  “Fine particulate? Can’t really tell.Used to spar alot with Trainwreck but he’s with Monica and Lena now” I continued. “I guess he could just burn the flour in the air, and make some sort of explosion.”

  “…he’d look like a fire manipulator, Jason.” Angela finished softly.

  “See, Genji wouldn’t care” Hana added, “Although he would absolutely chase him if he would find him”

  I rubbed a hand over my face, irritation mixing with something closer to worry. “Lets focus on the Undersiders for now, If Genji is on their trail, We would hear something soon.”

  Angela nodded. “I told him to rest, that stubborn fool, He never listens when it mattered, Perhaps i’ve been spoiling him too much..”

  That sounded exactly like Genji Shimada. “Angela…I need healing”

  “Oh! Not you too!,” Angela said trying to curb her shyness from blushing “L-lets focus on the kids now. .”

  “They might be trying to escape quietly, all of this chaos is probably part of distraction,” I replied. “Indirectly. Flame King’s been patrolling ABB territory. Undersiders move through the same lanes, If they escaped, they would probably try to head there or…towards the docks.”

  “If Genji’s already moving,” I continued, “chasing him blind just creates another collision. He’s not the problem.”

  Angela studied me. “Then what do you propose?”

  I wondered where they would go, perhaps topside? Or underground?

  “We should check check the underground parking lot and maybe any other exit, Hana, check the entrance and back to Tokki, I’ll head further below and see if they went there”

  D’Va was already running towards the lobby “On my way Commander! I got this!”

  Mercy just nodded “I’ll stay here, tend to the staff, Panacea is upstairs trying to soothe the Paediatric patients.I should head upstairs as well, Do find Genji and keep him safe”

  I nodded and said “Sure thing, I’ll bring your boyfriend back”

  That stopped her in her tracks as she stuttered” You should really stop teasing an old lady Jason, humph! “

  There’s nothing Old lady about you Mercy, nope. If you’re an old lady, I'm what? Oh wait, didn’t D.Va call me an Unc?What was it again..Ah..Ahju.. Ahjussi? That girl really can’t let up calling me an old guy. I really need to brush up on my Korean.

  Kaboom*

  The explosion rolled through the hospital like a concussion wave, deep and metallic, rattling the windows and setting off a cascade of distant car alarms. The floor vibrated under my boots.

  I’m getting closer.

  Heading towards the parking lot near the Ambulance bay was the right call.By the time I burst through the side doors into the parking lot, the night air hit me like a slap—cold, sharp, carrying the acrid bite of burned asphalt and ozone.

  The source was immediately obvious.

  One of the ambulances near the bay entrance was half-lifted off the ground, its rear axle twisted, windows spiderwebbed from the inside out. Smoke poured from the hood in thick, rolling plumes. Scorch marks radiated across the concrete in a rough arc, blackened and glassy, like something had struck, slid, and detonated.

  And in the center of it was Genji Shimada.

  He stood alone beneath the floodlights, a stark, almost unreal figure. Medical bandages wrapped his torso and one shoulder, darkened with fresh blood where the movement had torn them loose. His visor glowed a muted green, pulsing faintly. The edges of his armor were scorched, His body restored back with human parts. Those are just armor. I guess he’s still trying to adapt to bone and skin again.

  His sword was drawn.

  Held low and ready using a defense stance,, blade angled toward the ground in the classic stance of someone prepared to react, not initiate. Opposite him, spread in a loose semicircle near the shattered edge of the parking lot, were the Undersiders.

  Genji spoke first, his voice filtered but steady. “They are injured. They are afraid. But they are not innocent in this, such wanton destruction is unnecessary."

  Brian’s hands clenched. “We didn’t start this.”

  “No,” Genji replied, blade shifting a fraction of an inch. “But you ran.You should have stayed.”

  That was when I stepped fully into view.

  “That’s enough.”

  Every head snapped toward me.

  Brian stood forward, shoulders squared, jaw tight. His posture was defensive, not attacking, darkness bleeding faintly around his feet like a reflex he was fighting to suppress. Nice form, boxing two hands up for guard and moving on the balls of his feet.

  Rachel hovered a few steps back, tense, eyes locked on Genji with open hostility, her dogs pacing and growling under her breath. Dogs the size of a car, big and ugly, monstrous actually, kinda like Fallout Orcs. very menacing.

  Alec leaned against a concrete divider, trying very hard to look relaxed, hands jammed in his pockets with his cane, the injuries were probably him interfering with Genji’s bodyparts, the unnatural wound around him probably indicate that it was a deliberate mistake done by Regent.

  And lo and behold. Tattletale herself. Lisa Willbourn or Sarah Livsley. Take your pick. She noticed me, sleuthing mode on with that smug face of her, then it turned into a flat stare..and then a frown…and then panic.

  Ahh fuck…she knows shit doesn’t she? Her head turned the instant I stepped into the light.

  Of course she would, It’s fucking T to the Tee. A core piece of Lisa’s character is that she blames herself for Rex’s death. It’s obviously not her fault, but she triggers because she “should have known.” So her power lets her know things. But it never lets her know enough. It’s never enough for her. It can’t be. She has a need to be the smartest person in the room or else be engulf in guilt,

  And I think she just found out that’s what I think about her.

  “ Regent! Stop him! That’s Dreamhack! Take him out first! R-Bitch! Sick em! Do something!”

  Genji’s visor flickered, surprise registering in the subtle tilt of his head. “Jason.”

  “Genji,” I said evenly, hands open, posture relaxed but deliberate. “Stand down.”

  The sword didn’t move. “You’re trying to help these children? Even after everything? They tried to hurt Angela”

  “I know,” I replied. “And you’re bleeding in a hospital parking lot, facing a group of teenagers who already escaped one disaster tonight and tried the same on you, This doesn’t end well for anyone if we keep fighting.”

  Brian sagged a fraction, tension bleeding out of his shoulders. Rachel’s dogs stopped pacing. Alec let out a breath he probably hadn’t realized he was holding.

  Lisa just watched me more closely.

  Genji turned his head toward the distant glow of the city. “Then we will speak later.”

  “Yes,” I said. “We will speak later. Go sit down or something, leave these kids to me.”

  Behind me, the deep, familiar thrum of heavy machinery cut through the night as Hana’s MEKA powered up, landing lights flaring across the ruined parking lot. “Haiya boss! Heard the explosion, came as soon as I can, oh. So these are the Undersiders? Dont look so tough to me.”

  Lisa’s composure cracked. “Who the hell are you?!”

  I noticed it before she spoke before she even moved. Her breathing shifted, just slightly too fast. Her eyes stopped tracking the obvious threats and locked onto me instead, sharp and searching, like she’d just realized the floor beneath her feet wasn’t solid ground after all.

  “I don’t like this at all..not with him, not like this,” Lisa said quickly, words tumbling out faster than usual. “Alec. Now.”

  Alec blinked. “Uh…what?”

  “Do it,” she snapped, eyes never leaving me. “Hit him first! That's Dreamhack idiot!”

  The air went very still at the mention of that name Brian turned toward her, brow furrowing. “Tat! Stop panicking!He doesn’t even have a mech! The guy is a pure tinker!”

  Rachel’s lip curled and growled “ He smells dangerous…”

  Even Alec looked unsettled. “You serious? He hasn’t even-”

  She cut him off. “You don’t understand. None of you do! He knows who we are! Every single one of us! Put him down! NOW!”

  I stayed where I was, hands relaxed at my sides, posture open. No weapons drawn. No sudden movements. Just listening.

  Because panic like that?

  I kinda expected it. Lowkey wanted to see how this plays out, to see if any of my equipment can counter them. After what happened to the cuffs, I noticed that I haven’t exactly done proper QA testing with any of my equipment. Usually if you join the PRT, you would send equipment for approval and testing, I don't have a facility or the manpower to do that.

  And what better way to test it out on live targets?

  Lisa’s gaze flicked over me again, faster this time, like she was recalculating a hundred possibilities at once and finding every exit blocked. I could practically see the mental math spiraling out of control.

  “He knows,” she said, voice tight. “He knows way too much…Fuck, what are you?”

  Brian’s shoulders squared again, confusion edging into concern. “Know what?”

  “Everything,” she shot back. “About us. About how this goes, With our powers he knows! They didn't tell me he’s a thinker too!..wait he’s not? What?”

  Alec snorted nervously. “Okay, that’s dramatic even for you.”

  “It’s not,” she hissed. “This isn’t like Ana. She was a problem. A big one. But she was still operating on rules I could read. This guy doesn't play by the rules!” her eyes cut back to me, “Fuck…he’s not even playing the same game.”

  I watched Alec wrestle with the order, jaw tight, eyes flicking between Lisa and me. His power thrived on confidence, on control. And right now, Lisa wasn’t giving him either.Brian shook his head slowly. “You’re not making sense. You didn’t freak out like this when Ana broke all our bones.”

  “And I’m saying if we don’t, we won’t get another chance, So yes! Hit him!” Lisa said. “Alec. Please! Anytime now!”

  Rachel shifted, boots scraping concrete. “We should hit, I don't like his smell, Brutus, Judas, Attack!”

  The two car sized dogs were already circling me ready to pounce when they found a chance as they started growling menacingly. Lisa panicked and yelled “Wait! He got some sort of shield!”

  The moment the first giant dog tried to maul me, with intent crystallized, I triggered the Defense Matrix for self defense. The world shifted into tactical clarity for me.

  A translucent Terran energy field unfolded around me in a tight, adaptive shell, hexagonal facets locking into place with a low harmonic hum. Incoming threat vectors lit up in my HUD as probabilities rather than guesses. Terran tactic 101 for infantry. Turtling.

  Brian struck first.

  Darkness surged outward in a suffocating wave, Grue’s power swallowing light and sound, and spatial powers god knows what. That shadow could have the power to render things like an EMP.

  To anyone else it would have been disorienting, paralyzing their senses a little. To me it was just another layer to filter. The Matrix compensated instantly, feeding me lidar, thermal overlays, electromagnetic mapping. The dark became irrelevant. I advanced through it as if walking through smoke.

  Alec followed.

  The moment Regent’s power latched onto my nervous system, the Matrix flared brighter. Neural intrusion warnings cascaded across my vision as the system dumped power into biofeedback dampening. My muscles twitched once then locked back under my control. The attempted override slid off the Matrix like static against armor, redirected, neutralized. Alec’s influence never reached depth.

  At least the tech is master proof resistant. Been trying to test it out to see if it could go against parahuman master wavelength, this just confirms it.

  Rachel’s dogs hit again .

  They came in low and fast, bodies warped into monstrous mass, claws tearing up asphalt as they lunged. Impact registered. Force vectors spiked. The Matrix absorbed it all, dispersing the kinetic energy in radiant ripples that sent the beasts skidding away mid-charge, momentum stolen and returned to the ground instead of me. Brute rating checks out with a slight counter blast.

  Lisa never attacked directly, I know she’s carrying a handgun, but that wont do much here.

  Her power flared anyway. I felt it like pressure, an attempt to peel back layers, to force understanding through sheer inference. Information gathering is her strength. The shield can’t defend against Thinker power, at least I didn’t prepare it for that.

  The Matrix responded by isolating my biometric and cognitive signatures as it release power dampers wavelength,, feeding her nothing but noise and dead ends. Whatever she saw, it wasn’t useful. Her advantage collapsed into static to blast her thoughts away.

  “Ahh! “ Lisa screamed while clutching her head.

  That was probably the thinker's headache.

  Alec tried again.

  Well, the second time is the charm I guess.

  I stepped forward, closing distance, Matrix humming steadily as the stun gun came up in my hand. Terran design, nonlethal, brutally efficient. I tagged him first. The charge dumped straight through his nervous system, bypassing muscle resistance, leaving him rigid and collapsing mid-step.

  Brian reacted instinctively, darkness thickening, power straining harder.

  I walked through it.

  One step. And..pew pew-

  The Matrix flared again as he lashed out blindly, but he never touched me. I reached him, pressed the stun gun into his shoulder, and discharged. His power cut out instantly as his body seized and folded to the ground. The ragdoll physics still unnerves me. Stun gun might be too effective since it targets the nervous system directly.

  Rachel was already moving trying to recover her dogs fury replacing coordination trying to distract me while one of her dogs began to retrieve Regent and Grue, I won't allow it.

  I intercepted her before they could reform, Matrix shrugging off glancing blows, and dropped her with a precise shot with the stun gun. She went down hard, unconscious before she hit the pavement.

  Lisa was last. “W-wait! Can we negotiate! Since you know all about us that means you know I was coerce-”

  She tried to talk, or yap, tried to reposition, but she hesitated for just a fraction of a second too longThat was enough. I’ll listen to her on my own terms later. The stun gun discharged one final time. Her body locked, then fell, headfirst into the floor pavement forehead first with a loud thunk sound,, her blonde hair splaying against the concrete as her power died with the interruption of her nervous system.

  Ahh crap. That forehead is gonna hurt like hell for her tomorrow. I wonder if Mercy’s caduceus machine could heal pain away.

  Silence followed.

  Five bodies lay unconscious at my feet, alive, breathing, neutralized.

  I’d say I did alright, not exactly front line material, but the shield is really working really well, I’d probably try to overspec it even further later and see if I can add a cadaceus mod for healing.

  Hana gave everything on her Tokki and gave a thumbs up “Nicely done! Very efficient!”

  Genji just sighed “My body is sore..I need more healing”

  I sigh as well “Come on, help me carry these kids…Tonight is gonna be a long day for me…fuck. Every single time I go out, shit always happens”

  **********************