"You think I did all this out of hatred, Axel? No, I am your potential’s number one admirer," Vayu said as he paced slowly in front of the cell, his fingers idly spinning a silver lighter in a dull, rhythmic motion. The small flicker of flame reflected against the glass walls of the laboratory, casting grotesque, dancing shadows across his cold face. Each metallic click of the lighter echoed like a death bell ringing through the silent underground chamber.Axel leaned against the damp wall of the cell, feeling the cold concrete seep through his malfunctioning bionic skin. He tried to steady his breathing, which felt unbearably heavy, as if his lungs had been replaced with molten lead. The golden light in his eyes flickered weakly, struggling against the electromagnetic interference installed by Dr. Adrian in the ceiling. The sensation of thousands of fire ants stinging the nerves in his brain forced Axel to bite his lower lip until it bled just to stay conscious. He fixed his gaze on

"Wake up, damn it, don’t leave me like this," Arlo roared as he shook Axel’s shoulders, already gone cold. His voice cracked against the roar of the Vancouver wind, which drove flakes of snow through the gaping roof of the warehouse. Arlo dragged Axel’s frail body, now as light as dry bones, toward an old sedan hidden behind stacks of rusted containers. His strength was nearly gone, but the fear of losing the only person he trusted gave him an irrational surge of energy. He ignored the sharp pain in his crippled leg as he roughly hauled Dex’s corpse into the trunk. The dull thud of the stiff body echoed hollowly inside the metal space. Arlo slammed the car door and pressed the gas pedal as far as it would go just as a cluster of searchlights split the darkness from the warehouse’s main gate.The car shot forward through the raging snowstorm, its tires screeching wildly against the slick asphalt toward North Vancouver. Arlo kept glancing at the passenger seat through the rearview mirro

"Wake up, scrap! The sea doesn’t accept trash like you to die peacefully here!"The baritone voice slammed into Axel’s ears along with the impact of a leather boot crashing into his ribs. Axel coughed, spitting out brackish liquid that tasted foul and cold on his tongue. His consciousness slowly crawled up from the darkness of hibernation, bringing with it a throbbing pain in every joint. He tried to open his eyes, but the morning sunlight reflecting off the ocean felt like needles piercing his retinas. His body was stiff, cold, and barely responsive to his brain’s commands.[ WARNING: CORE TEMPERATURE AT CRITICAL LEVEL. ][ HIBERNATION MODE FORCIBLY TERMINATED BY EXTERNAL DISTURBANCE. ]Axel lay sprawled across the rough, rocky shoreline. In front of him stood three men in ragged clothes that reeked of kerosene and stale sweat. One of them, a man with burn scars along his neck, stared at Dex’s metal coffin lying beside the rusted

"You’re no longer human, Axel. You’re a thief who steals time to feed your own ambition."Dextar’s voice came out hoarse as he tried to straighten his back at the edge of the cold metal coffin. His breathing was still heavy, the lingering effect of cellular freezing that had just been forcibly halted by a surge of bionic energy. He stared at his trembling palm, then shifted his gaze to Axel’s face, now looking far younger. There were no wrinkles or traces of systemic exhaustion left on the man before him. Axel stood upright with firm skin and eyes that radiated absolute power, a stark contrast to the cold vapor still billowing from the coffin behind him."I did what had to be done to keep you breathing, Dex. Don’t talk to me about humanity after you were the one who helped create this life-draining machine."Axel removed his worn sailor’s jacket and draped it over Dextar’s shivering shoulders. He gripped Dextar’s arm, helping him up from the coffin. Dextar’s legs felt like jelly, unab

"Pull that needle out of my heart, Gery! You’ll destroy yourself along with this island’s explosion!"Axel’s voice thundered amid the roaring engines echoing from the sky. He gripped Gery’s mechanical wrist with the last of his strength, his bionic joints creaking sharply under the strain. The first orbital strike slammed into the edge of the dock with enough force to vaporize seawater in an instant. A wave of heat swept through the warehouse, collapsing the steel roof of the control room and hurling both of them beneath blazing debris. Axel coughed, feeling thick fluid seep from his nose as the Overload protocol began damaging the neural tissue in his brain."I’d rather die in an explosion with you than live under the shadow of our father’s failed masterpiece!"Gery answered with a venomous snarl. He drove the golden extraction needle deeper, trying to pierce the final layer protecting Axel’s heart. His cracked bionic eye emitted an unstable red glow. The hatred cultivated for years