BOTTOM OF THE HUDSON RIVER - DEPTH 15 METERS07:42 AMIn the world of the dead, time does not run straight. Time is quicksand.Marco Rossi's consciousness floated in absolute emptiness. No pain. No cold. No sound. Only a vast, endless black void.He watched fragments of his life drift by like burning photographs.Maria's smiling face (but blurred).Sofia's laughter when she first rode a bike.Bruno patting his shoulder.Julian throwing a knife.All of it drifting away. Fading. Turning to ash."I failed," Marco thought. His voice echoed in nothingness. "I promised to protect them. But I got them killed instead."Marco let himself be pulled deeper into the darkness. He wanted to sleep. He was tired of fighting. He was tired of being a monster.However, the darkness rejected him.A distorted digital voice not the usual System voice, but something older, more primal, and far more malicious exploded inside the remnants of his brain that still held a few molecules of oxygen.[WAKE UP.]Marc

HUDSON RIVERBANK - IMPACT POINT - 07:45 AM The dirty, oily surface of the Hudson River suddenly churned. Not from wind, not from waves. The water was boiling. Giant steam bubbles rose to the surface, bursting and carrying unnatural heat from the riverbed. On the damaged wooden pier, Agent Parker stood frozen. Around him, the FBI dive team was preparing to jump in to search for the body. "Sir! Water temperature is spiking drastically!" shouted one diver holding an infrared thermometer. "There's a thermal anomaly down there! It's hot as a leaking reactor!" "Fall back!" ordered Parker instinctively. BOOOOM! 

"THE CITADEL" PRIVATE ISLAND - OFF THE COAST OF CONNECTICUT - 08:30 AMThe island was the last line of defense. A granite mound in the middle of the cold sea, surrounded by churning waters and guarded by illegal coastal defense systems. At its peak stood a modern concrete villa that looked more like a bunker than a vacation home.Inside the highest watchtower, Senator Edward Thorne stood facing the bulletproof glass window. He held his morning glass of Scotch. His hands were no longer shaking.Parker's radio report earlier was disturbing - Marco had escaped the barricade - but Thorne was confident that distance and water were safe separators."He doesn't have wings," Thorne muttered, staring at the misty sea. "And he doesn't know the coordinates of this place."In the corner of the room, Sofia Rossi sat on the floor, her hands and feet tied to a heating radiator. Her mouth was still taped. Her eyes were swollen, red, and empty. She had stopped crying. She had entered trauma shutdown m

PANIC ROOM - 3RD FLOOR VILLA - 08:40 AMSenator Edward Thorne, a man who could topple governments with a single phone call, was now trembling like a child in the corner of the room.The panic room was designed to withstand a nuclear strike. Its walls were made of tungsten and steel, a meter thick. It had an independent oxygen supply, food for a month, and a small armory.But Thorne knew none of that mattered.He watched the CCTV monitors on the wall.Screen 1: Front yard. [NO SIGNAL].Screen 2: Main corridor. [NO SIGNAL].Screen 3: Stairs to the 3rd floor.On Screen 3, he saw him.Marco Rossi walking up the stairs. He didn't run. He didn't look left or right. He walked straight through decorative walls, toppling marble statues with a light touch of his fingers.Every time Marco stepped, the carpet beneath his feet scorched, leaving smoky black footprints."Impossible... impossible..." whispered Thorne. He gripped his gold Desert Eagle with both hands, but the gun barrel shook violentl

PRIVATE HELIPAD - THORNE VILLA - 08:50 AM The Sikorsky helicopter blades spun at full speed, slicing through the air with a deafening whup-whup-whup. The powerful wind kicked up dust and small debris on the villa's roof. Marco stopped ten meters from the helicopter. He knelt slowly, lowering Sofia from his left arm. He sat the child behind a low concrete wall, the only place safe from the wind and the gruesome sight that was about to unfold. "Close your eyes," Marco's synthesizer voice commanded. "Cover your ears. Count to one hundred." Sofia, still in shock and trembling, obeyed. She curled up, covering her face with her small hands.