Before the ceiling exploded, Marcus had to learn the hardest lesson of all. Marcus collapsed onto the cold metal grating, sobbing in absolute, blinding agony. His right hand was completely shattered. Three fingers were bent backward. Blood pooled on the rusted floor. The sound of his bone crunching against the solid iron pillar echoed in the dark maintenance hub. The other eleven recruits backed away in pure terror. Silas Kapito walked slowly toward Marcus. He did not offer a bandage. He did not offer pity. Silas knelt beside the crying boy. He placed his heavy, tungsten-dense hand gently over Marcus’s bloody, broken hand. "Do not let the brain panic," Silas whispered. His voice was not loud, but it vibrated with absolute, unbreakable control. The sound travelled directly into Marcus’s shaking chest. Marcus gritted his teeth, tears streaming down his face. "It hurts! Silas, I broke it! It's ruined!" "It is not ruined. It is awake," Silas said calmly. This was Silas’s core strug

Before Corvus threw the green glass sphere, Silas Kapito had pushed his recruits to their absolute breaking point.The dark maintenance hub inside the Dead Zone echoed with the sound of heavy metal. Marcus groaned in pain. He dropped a heavy, solid tungsten block onto the cold metal grating. He held his bruised, bleeding forearm against his chest. Tears formed in his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away. Silas Kapito stood in the center of the room. He watched his twelve recruits. They were shirtless. They were shivering in the thin, cold air. Their arms were covered in dark purple bruises and deep, painful cuts. "Pick it up, Marcus," Silas commanded. His voice was a flat, unyielding hum. Marcus gritted his teeth. He bent down and picked up the heavy tungsten block with his left hand. The block weighed fifty pounds. It was incredibly dense. Marcus held his right arm out flat. "Drop it," Silas ordered. Marcus closed his eyes. He used the "Iron Lung" technique, filling his belly

Three weeks before Corvus attacked with the poison gas, Silas Kapito needed to know if his recruits were truly ready for war.The dark maintenance hub inside the Dead Zone felt like an underground prison. The spinning gravity-wells hummed loudly in the distance.Silas stood in the center of the dusty metal floor. He had spent weeks breaking the twelve elite recruits. They had punched solid iron. They had dropped tungsten blocks on their arms. Their skin had finally changed, taking on the faint, slate-grey undertone of "Hard-Flesh." But hitting a wall was not the same as getting shot in a real fight. Silas walked over to a heavy, metal crate he had stolen from a broken security checkpoint. He opened the crate and pulled out an automated security turret. It was a sleek, black machine with a single, rotating barrel. He bolted the heavy turret onto a metal table. "What is that?" Lyra asked nervously. She rubbed her bare, pale arm where her cybernetic machine used to be. "It is a live-

Before the chaotic fight in the Nervous Center, Silas had to prepare for the stealth mission that started it all.Silas Kapito stood in a quiet, luxurious room in the Aegis Wing. The walls were made of white marble, and the lights were soft and golden. General Krov had brought him here. The old, scarred warrior sat on a velvet chair in the corner, cleaning a heavy plasma-pistol. "The Luminescence Gala starts in twenty minutes," Krov grunted, snapping a power cell into his gun. "The Chrome Council is there. If we kill Councilor Valois, we get the launch codes for the AI. If we fail, the machine takes over the world." Silas did not answer. He was looking at himself in a tall, crystal mirror. He was wearing a perfectly tailored, midnight-black "Silk-Steel" tuxedo. The smart-fabric felt incredibly strange against his skin. It was soft, but it was strong enough to stop a knife. The fabric tightened around his broad shoulders and his thick chest, hiding the massive, silver-laced muscles

The massive kinetic wave blasted from Elara’s hand. General Krov flew backward through the air. He smashed hard onto the smooth glass floor. He slid rapidly toward the very edge of the floating platform. "Ahhhhh!" Krov screamed, grabbing wildly at the smooth glass. He slid past the invisible pneumatic wind-curtains. The howling gale of the upper atmosphere hit his body. Krov stopped sliding just inches away from the 5,000-foot drop. His legs dangled over the terrifying abyss. The dark, ruined city waited far below him. The Luminescence Gala was in total chaos. The rich guests shrieked and scrambled away from the center of the room. The floating crystal fountains tipped over, spilling their liquid-light across the floor. The artificial constellations on the ceiling flickered and sparked, damaged by the kinetic blast. Councilor Valois cowered behind his heavy golden throne. "Shoot them! Shoot them all!" he screamed at his guards. The automated security drones hovered in the air. T