Michael snuck through the vents, using his powers to mask all attempts to track him. He had one goal:
Stop the Genesis Project.
He honestly had no idea what it truly was—only that it was supposed to give people powers.
That wasn't inherently a bad thing, really. But Michael had been revived when he got his power, and for the first two weeks, his mind was a haze—agony-covered—and he attacked anyone who got in his way.
Even when the haze wore off, he was still stranded, confused, and a teenager who had been dead for seven years. The world had changed so much.
And even ignoring the possibility of someone coming back from the dead, that still left superpowered people who could go on uncontrolled rampages, drawn to the biggest source of agony.
Michael found his father sooner than expected. There was an orange-haired teenager with him, and they seemed to be having a rather heated discussion.
He didn't pay attention to their conversation, casting a field of indifference around them before busting open the vent shaft, hiding it inside the vent, and floating down toward the ground to study the Genesis device.
"First things first—how does he plan to power this thing?" He reached for one of the large tubs, and upon touching it, he felt agony being pulled into the container.
"Agony?" Michael questioned aloud.
He knew agony was everywhere in the world and relatively easy to collect in large amounts, but as a fuel source, it burned quickly. Even in a place like Hurricane City, with its rather bloody history, it still wouldn't be enough to give everyone in the world superpowers. And there was no greater source of agony on the planet.
The only other thing that could power such a device would be one of William's test subjects—but none of them were here. They were too weak to help.
That made Michael the only superpowered person in the building.
He was the only superpowered person in the building.
"Shit," Michael hissed loudly. He'd walked right into a trap. When he tried to teleport out of the building—yeah, nope. He couldn't.
There was an electric barrier around the place. A normal person might get a shiver, but for someone with powers, it disabled them completely.
He groaned, dropping the indifference field around them and scowling behind his foxy mask.
"All right, old man. You got me. Now what?"
The orange-haired teen seemed stupefied to see him floating in the air. Meanwhile, William just sighed.
"Now, now, Michael. No need to be so aggressive—" Whatever he was about to say was cut off by the teen.
"Wha—That's Michael?"
Michael raised an eyebrow at her. Did he know her from somewhere? Now that he was paying attention, she looked familiar.
"You're the asshole who broke into our house and stole my underwear and bras! Why the fuck would you need to do that?"
Michael did remember breaking into his old home to grab his foxy mask and happened to find some undergarments for Charlie.
He was pretty sure William had moved into a different house, but the girl talked like she knew him.
"Do I know you?" he asked.
The girl narrowed her eyes, and William almost broke character and snorted.
"It's me—Elizabeth, you asshole."
Michael blinked and stared at her. He could see it now. Well, shit.
"I thought you were dead." He was surprised she was less freaked out about him floating.
"None of that matters now," William stated, and Michael focused back on him, getting ready for a fight.
"There are more important things to discuss between us."
With that, William pulled out a gun, aimed it at Elizabeth, and pulled the trigger.