Maxwell nodded slowly. “Smart. Dead men can't contest anything.” He gestured to the guards. “Do it.”“Wait, wait—I'll sign!" Damian tried to crawl forward, his ruined hand leaving a blood streak on the concrete. "Please, I'll—”The first punch caught him in the ribs. He heard the snap before he felt it, then the pain hit like a freight train. Another punch to his kidney, and his body locked up. The third one slammed into his sternum, and something inside him gave way with a wet pop.They weren't just beating him. They were using some kind of technique, each strike hitting pressure points that made the damage spread like poison through his body. Iron Fist, they called it in the underground fights. One punch could shatter bone.They hit him six more times.Damian collapsed onto his side, blood pouring from his mouth in thick streams. He tried to breathe, but his lungs wouldn't fill. Something was wrong inside, something torn and bleeding where it shouldn't be.Megan walked over, her he

His voice came out steady, cold.Everyone who'd looked down on him, everyone who'd called him worthless because he hadn't awakened an ability, everyone who'd treated him like trash - they were going to learn what a mistake that was.But first, Emma.Damian walked out of the warehouse into the late afternoon sun. His daughter was home alone. She was only four years old, too young to understand why her mother never spent time with her, too young to know that Megan had just tried to have her father killed.He pulled out his phone - cracked screen, held together with tape - and called a cab.Twenty minutes later, he walked through the door of the small apartment he'd been renting on the east side. The place was barely eight hundred square feet, one bedroom that Emma and her mother slept in while he took the couch. The paint was peeling, the carpet was stained, and the heater only worked half the time.But it was home.“Daddy!”Emma came running from her room, her stuffed rabbit dragging o

Derek sat there on the floor, staring up at Damian with wide, terrified eyes. But even through the fear, something else flickered across his face. Something calculating.“You think you're going to get away with this?” His voice shook, but the words came out sharp. “You think you can just assault Marcus like that and walk away?” He let out a bitter laugh. “You have no idea what you've done. Marcus's father - you know who his father is?”Damian said nothing. Just watched him.“General Marcus Stone. One of the seven guardians protecting the Southern Gate.” Derek's confidence was coming back now that he had distance between them. “When he hears what you did to his son, he's going to come for you. And when a General comes for you, there's nowhere to hide.”The SARS Gates. Dimensional rifts that opened twenty years ago, spilling monsters and corrupted energy into the world. That's what had started all of this - the awakenings, the abilities, the new world order where power meant everything

Immediately Maxwell's jaw clenched so hard he thought his teeth might crack.He couldn't believe this. Couldn't believe Darlington had the audacity to walk in here and ask for the assignment that had just been given to him to not five minutes ago. Yes, they were rivals. Yes, they'd competed their entire lives. But to request this task, to try to take it from him when the patriarch had already made his decision it was a slap in the face.If the patriarch took the assignment away from Maxwell and gave it to Darlington instead, Maxwell would be humiliated in front of the entire family. His authority would be undermined. His position would be weakened. Everything he'd worked to build would crumble.He couldn't let that happen.Maxwell cleared his throat and spoke before the patriarch could respond. “I'm afraid that's not going to be possible.” His voice came out steady, controlled, even though rage was burning in his chest. “I've already been given sole authority to find the God of Acup

She answered the call, keeping her voice clipped and businesslike. “I'm busy. I'll call you back later.”She knew what Derek was going to say before he even said it. He'd been pestering her for days about Damian's apartment. Now that Damian was gone, Derek probably wanted to know when she was going to sell it so they could split whatever money came from it.She didn't have the energy to deal with that conversation right now.Her finger moved toward the red button to end the call.“No, no, no, no, no! Don't end the call! Don't end it!”Derek's voice came through the phone so loud and frantic that Megan pulled it away from her ear slightly. Maxwell glanced over, one eyebrow raised.“What's wrong with him?” Maxwell muttered.Megan brought the phone back to her ear cautiously. “Derek, I said I'm—”“Something strange happened!” Derek's voice was high-pitched, almost panicked. “You didn't tell me that good-for-nothing Damian is an awakener now! Why didn't you tell me?”Megan's jaw tighten