The cold wind blew hard off the Hudson River. It swept through the dark, broken streets of New York City. It carried the smell of old rain, burnt rubber, and wet concrete.In the middle of Broadway, the famous street was ruined. Yellow taxi cabs were flipped upside down. The glass from their windows covered the road like a blanket of cheap diamonds. High above, a giant digital billboard flickered. It was broken, flashing a bright, blinding white light every few seconds.Under that flashing light stood Jayden.He was a terrible sight to see. His dark coat was ripped into shreds. His shirt was soaked in his own blood. His face was covered in dark bruises and deep cuts. For the last hour, he had taken the worst beating of his life. He had been crushed by gravity. He had been punched with kinetic energy. He had been hit so many times his bones had turned to dust inside his body.But he was still standing.Around him, a massive crowd of New Yorkers watched in absolute silence. There were t

CRACK.With a sound like a glass window shattering into a million pieces, Luna exploded.She did not hurt anyone. She just turned into a cloud of tiny, glowing white butterflies made of light. The butterflies swirled around Jayden once, and then they all rushed into his chest. They sank deep into his heart, returning to his base code to hide and heal.Jayden was left kneeling on the street. He was completely alone in his own mind. For years, Luna had always been a voice in his head. She had warned him of danger. She had kept him company. Now, it was just total, empty silence.But the silence only lasted for one second.BEEEEEEP.A massive, deafening alarm rang inside Jayden’s brain. It was so loud it made his teeth vibrate.In front of his eyes, his normal blue System screens popped open. But they were not blue anymore.They were a bright, blinding, terrifying gold.SYSTEM ALERT, the golden letters read.USER 'JAYDEN' HAS ACHIEVED MAXIMUM INFLUENCE THRESHOLD.LOCAL NETWORK OVERRIDE DE

Leo’s flickering blue Proto-System screen suddenly expanded. It grew from a small square into a massive, heavy shield of solid blue light. The words on his screen changed.SIGNAL RECEIVED. PROTO-SYSTEM STABILIZED.USER: LEO.CLASS: SHIELD-BEARER. LEVEL: MAXIMIZED."I... I feel it," Leo whispered. He looked at his hands. They were radiating absolute power. He looked at Jayden, hanging on the ice spike. Leo realized immediately where the power was coming from. "He is giving us his strength. Every time he hurts... we get stronger."David felt it too. The old iron wrench in his hand suddenly glowed with a blinding, fierce orange light. The ice trapping his boots shattered into dust. David felt his muscles bulge. He felt like his skin had turned to titanium.Martha, the old woman who had fallen to the ground, slowly stood up. Her silver Proto-System flared to life. The glowing silver light wrapped around the people next to her, creating a warm, unbreakable dome of healing energy.Survival

The sky over New York City was the color of dirty iron. The sun was hidden behind thick, grey clouds. Smoke rose from burning cars and ruined buildings, twisting into the cold air.The city was no longer just a place where people lived. It was a war zone.In just a few days since the battle in Times Square, the world had completely broken apart. It was not just a small fight anymore. It was not just a few bad people making trouble. The concrete streets of New York were literally painted with thick, bright lines, dividing the city into three different worlds.There were the Gold Zones. These belonged to the Halo Loyalists. People like Leo, David, and Martha. They painted thick yellow lines on the ground around their neighborhoods. They believed in Jayden. They believed that power was meant for protection. They used their soft blue, silver, and green Proto-Systems to build shields, to heal the sick, and to endure. They did not want to conquer the world; they only wanted to build a safe

Miller pulled the trigger. But the bullets never hit Leo.A sudden, blinding flash of pure golden light exploded from the sky. It did not come from a bomb. It came from nowhere. It fell over the entire street like a warm, heavy blanket.When the golden light touched Leo, his eyes shot wide open.The terrible pain in his broken arm simply vanished.CRACK.His bones snapped back together in less than a second.Leo felt a rush of power so massive, so incredibly pure, that he felt like he could lift a skyscraper. The blue light of his Proto-System erupted from his body.It was no longer a small, flickering shield.A massive dome of solid, glowing blue crystal burst outward from Leo. It covered the entire street.The bullets from Miller’s machine gun hit the blue crystal dome and flattened like cheap tin foil, bouncing harmlessly onto the ice.David, kneeling on the ground, felt the golden pulse hit his bleeding shoulder. The bullet was pushed completely out of his flesh by a rush of silv