The city pulsed with life. Neon lights buzzed, car horns blared, and streams of people surged through the streets, their chatter a constant murmur.Ryan hadn’t realized how much he missed it until he stepped out of the factory’s shadows and into the crush of humanity.“It feels… normal,” Olivia whispered, clinging to his arm. “Like none of this is real.”Ryan gave a weak laugh. “Yeah. Just two siblings buying groceries. Totally normal.”Maya walked a few steps behind them, hood up, her gaze never resting. “Don’t get comfortable. Crowds are cover—for us and for them. Stay sharp.”Ryan tried to obey, but the moment he let his storm-sense stretch, he regretted it.The city wasn’t quiet like the factory. It was a storm of its own.Every person buzzed in his awareness—heartbeats, emotions, electric signals flickering like sparks. Fear, joy, irritation, hunger—it all flooded into him at once.His stomach clenched. He stumbled, clutching his head.“Ryan?” Olivia’s voice cut through the stati

Ryan had never known silence to feel so loud. The abandoned factory’s walls groaned with the night wind, but every creak made his heart race. He sat near the boarded window, hood over his head, eyes scanning the street. Down below, unmarked black vans prowled slowly, their headlights cutting through the mist. Uniformed officers moved in pairs, their radios crackling. Not police—not entirely. Their stances were sharper, their weapons sleeker. “They’re not just cops,” Maya murmured from the shadows beside him. “Government task force. Special unit.” Ryan’s stomach tightened. “For me?” “Who else?” Maya’s tone was bitter. “The world saw lightning fall from your hands. The state can’t ignore that. They’ll want to cage you, dissect you—or worse, make you a weapon.” Olivia peeked from the mattress where she’d been pretending to sleep, her small face pale. “Ryan, they’ll take you away?”<

The abandoned subway station was damp and cold, but it was the only place Ryan could breathe.He sat against a crumbling pillar, every muscle aching from the fight. Sparks still crawled along his arms like restless snakes, refusing to fade. His body trembled, not from pain alone but from the storm inside—wild, unstable, hungry.Every time he closed his eyes, he saw crimson eyes in the dark, the General’s smirk as if Ryan had been nothing more than a toy.“I wasn’t strong enough,” he muttered. His fists clenched, sparks jumping between his knuckles. “I couldn’t stop him. If Maya hadn’t been there…”“You survived.”Maya’s voice was cool as always. She knelt nearby, tending a shallow cut on her arm. “That alone is a feat against a General. Most would be dead.”Ryan let out a bitter laugh. “Survived by running. That’s not a victory.”Maya’s gaze sharpened. “You want victory? Then earn it. Train until your storm bends to your will instead of tearing you apart.”Ryan swallowed, throat dry.