Superintendent Jeremy stepped out from the corner, watching the shrieking group with a grin. President Zha'rik, now on his feet, stared pitifully, while Lynx and Rowynn turned away, hopeless.
"We're glad you could join us," Jeremy announced. Spreading his palms as he glanced across the room, he continued,
"On behalf of the council, I welcome you all to our second experimental protocol. Don't worry—you'll all be conscious during this one. Together, we shall witness the power of genetic transformation."
"Is that right?" he asked one of the technicians.
The man nodded.
"Alright. Explanations done." Jeremy dropped his arms and turned to his men. "Round them up."
His officers immediately swept into action.
Valtor straightened as the strange sensation wore off. His eyes locked onto the approaching officers. Reaching into his back pocket, he drew out two round metal balls and hurled them to the ground.
Instantly, thick smoke flooded the chamber.
The officers paused for a heartbeat, then pushed forward into the fog. From the other end, the sharp crack of fired weapons rang out, followed by startled yells.
Lynx pressed against the front of his tube, tension knotting in his chest, all eyes narrowed in anxious anticipation.
When the smoke finally cleared, Valtor, Orea, Zara, and Kymani stood upright.
They held gadgets of different sizes and magnitudes, weapons raised and aimed ahead. Their attackers lay scattered across the floor, wounded, groaning softly.
Jeremy's eyes widened. The rest of the council erupted into confused murmurs, while their friends stared in stunned, fragile hope.
Valtor balanced two pistol-like blasters in his palms and smirked at the Superintendent.
"Surprise."
Rowynn shifted toward Lynx's tube and whispered, "How did they…?"
"I don't know," Lynx cut in, shaking his head in shared disbelief.
Superintendent Jeremy scoffed. "You kids never learn, do you? … You never stop trying."
"And you never shut up!" Zara snapped back, her gadget-covered knuckles pointed straight at him.
Pissed, Jeremy frowned. "No more games," he said, as the technicians began activating the next phase.
A low hum filled the chamber as blasting machines descended from every corner. Scalding laser beams shot out toward the group at random. They split up instantly, diving into different corners, dodging as best as they could.
At Jeremy's command, the lab technicians pressed on with their experiment.
Rowynn glanced down in horror as her tube began filling with a greenish liquid from below. She turned to Lynx, realizing his was doing the same.
They both began to yell for help, pounding on the glass in shared tension.
Almost immediately, a sharp beep sounded behind Lynx.
He turned just as Orea clamped a small, round, blinking device onto his tube, motioning for him to cover his ears. At the same time, Kymani appeared behind Rowynn and did the same.
Around them, Valtor and Zara fought back fiercely, dodging and blasting as more Vatican soldiers flooded into the chamber.
A loud crack split the air.
Both tubes shattered, glass exploding outward as the green liquid spilled across the floor.
Lynx and Rowynn were dragged from the wreckage by their friends and pulled into a shielded corner.
"You guys okay?" Orea asked, her eyes darting between them.
A tear slipped from Rowynn's eye as she pulled Orea and Kymani into a quick hug. "Thank you," she whispered, her voice still trembling.
Orea nodded, holding back her own tears.
She shared a brief embrace with Lynx, while Kymani and Rowynn held each other once again. Then all four turned toward the chaos ahead—Valtor and Zara still holding the front meters away.
Orea reached into her pocket and pulled out two metal gloves, holding them out to Lynx and Rowynn.
"Put these on."
"Where did you get all this?" Lynx asked, slipping them on.
"Nexis' Institute of Defense," Kymani replied simply, as they stepped back into the fight.
Tired of watching the unending chaos, President Zha'rik stepped out of the shielded booth—straight into a Nexist security guard.
"Step aside," he ordered.
"Mr President, I've been instructed to keep you here, where your safety is secured. Please return to the booth," the guard said, before being shoved aside by the determined leader.
Valtor drew heavy breaths, his hair wild and his entire state in disarray as the group finally united—still surrounded by attacking soldiers.
"Incapacitate them," Jeremy whispered to a technician. "By any means necessary, just enough to break them"
The younger man stared at him with open disdain. His gaze flicked to Valtor, who returned it with the same strained familiarity.
Subtly, Valtor shook his head, urging him to stop.
The man sighed… then began to carry out the order.
The ceilings crackled as machinery hummed to life above them.
Left with no choice, Valtor raised his weapon toward the technician's turned back, finger tightening on the trigger, while his friends fought against the continuous barrage of weapon fire.
"Enough!"
President Zha'rik's voice thundered through the chamber, snapping every head in his direction. The group paused, releasing tired breaths.
At the same time, as if on cue, a separate entrance slid open. Footsteps echoed.
To the council's shock, Malcolm strode in, his expression hardened like steel.
The youths exchanged brief glances.
"Dad?" Valtor breathed.
Malcolm scanned the room, his gaze settling on the superintendent, who met it without flinching—until another figure entered behind him.
Elder Kanzaki.
Convening leader of the Godfathers.
He stepped forward with quiet authority, and the room froze. Even the council.
"This," he said calmly, eyes sweeping over them all, "all of this insanity ends now."