2025-12-13 23:46:35
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Alright. Continuing directly from Cameron being taken, keeping it intense, emotional, dramatic, teen-author style.Next chapter — ~1000 words.⸻CHAPTER — BRANDON’S POVThe door slammed shut behind Cameron with a sound that felt permanent.Not loud—final.I stood there for half a second longer than I should’ve, staring at the empty space where he’d been, my palm still pressed against the cold barrier like he might somehow push back through it if I stayed still enough.“Cam,” I whispered.No answer.The room hummed softly, indifferent.Then the lights shifted.The control room dissolved into something else entirely—walls sliding, screens retracting, the space reconfiguring itself like it had never been meant to hold us for long. I turned slowly, heart pounding, fists clenched so tight my knuckles ached.“Okay,” I muttered to myself. “Okay. You don’t panic. You don’t lose it. You don’t—”A screen blinked on in front of me.Just one this time.Cameron’s face filled it.My chest seized.H
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The room felt too small for the amount of anger in it.Iron Hand pushed himself up from the desk, blood streaking down the side of his face, but he was smiling. Not a scared smile. Not a desperate one. The kind that made Davion’s stomach twist.“You think this ends with me on the floor?” Iron Hand asked calmly. “You think tearing down Genesis stopped the machine?”Beverly tightened her grip on her blade. “You’re stalling.”“Of course I am,” he replied smoothly. “That’s what people do when they still have options.”Davion stepped forward, heart pounding. “You don’t. Your systems are down. Your guards are locked out. Whatever backup plan you had—”Iron Hand laughed. Actually laughed.“You children really don’t understand scale,” he said. “Genesis wasn’t the heart. It was a test run.”Lina’s fingers froze over her console. “That’s not possible. We traced every—”“—every node you could see,” Iron Hand cut in. “Did you really think I’d build my legacy on a single point of failure?”Rami’s
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For a second—just one tiny, shaky second—the whole room froze. Iron Hand was pinned against his own desk, breathing hard, eyes wild in a way Davion had never seen before. It was weird, almost unsettling. He wasn’t the calm, untouchable monster they’d been running from for months. He looked… human. But Davion didn’t let himself feel anything about that. Not now. Not here.“Don’t hesitate,” Beverly said sharply, shooting Davion a look that cut through every distraction like a blade. “That’s how he wins.”Iron Hand laughed quietly, the sound rough and bitter. “You think you’ve won because you shut down a few security systems? Children. You’re all children.”“And yet,” Rami called from the doorway, panting as he kicked away another unconscious guard, “the children are kicking your butt right now.”Maya snorted. “Respectfully.”Iron Hand pushed himself off the desk in one swift movement, like some engine had restarted inside him. He reached under the desk and pulled out something that look
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The moment Iron Hand hit the desk, something in him snapped—like a switch inside his head turned off all the fake calm he had been wearing like perfume. His eyes flickered with this cold, mechanical glow, and Davion felt his stomach twist.“Oh no,” Maya whispered. “Not this again.”Iron Hand stood up slowly, rolling his shoulders, and the sound wasn’t normal—it was metallic, grinding, like gears shifting inside his body.“He enhanced himself,” Beverly muttered, eyes wide. “He actually—Davion, he’s not fully human anymore.”Iron Hand smirked. “Evolution is the only path forward. You children cling to your emotions like life jackets. I’ve transcended that weakness.”Davion stepped in front of the others. “And you lost your soul doing it.”Iron Hand didn’t argue. He just moved.Fast.Faster than before. Faster than human. One second he was standing near the desk—next second he was in front of Davion, metal fist slamming into Davion’s ribs with the force of a car crash.Davion flew across
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The room trembled.Not from an explosion, not from an alarm—but from the force of everything finally collapsing into this one moment. Davion felt it in his bones, like destiny breathing down his neck. Iron Hand pushed himself up from the wrecked desk, blood on his lip, eyes burning with something between fury and disbelief.“You children,” Iron Hand spat, wiping his mouth. “Do you think you can rewrite the world by breaking into one building?”Beverly stepped forward, blade raised, breath sharp. “We’re not rewriting the world. Just removing the infection.”Iron Hand laughed—an ugly, unhinged sound. “Bold words for a girl who watched her mother die because she wouldn’t join me.”Beverly’s jaw clenched so hard Davion could practically hear it crack. “Don’t you dare—”“Bev,” Davion said softly, grabbing her wrist before she threw herself at him. “He wants to get in your head. Don’t let him.”Iron Hand looked between them, amused. “Touching. Truly touching. But sentiment won’t save you wh
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For a second—just one tiny, fragile second—nobody moved.Iron Hand was pinned against his overturned desk, breath heavy, eyes dark with something Davion had never seen in him before.Fear.Real, genuine fear.And honestly? Davion wanted to savor it. For all the nights Iron Hand turned his life into a nightmare, for every kid he trapped in Genesis, for the blood on his hands. But Beverly didn’t give him time to think.“Davion!” she shouted. “Move!”Davion ducked just as Iron Hand swung a metal rod—where he pulled it from, Davion had no clue. Beverly blocked it with her arm guard, sparks exploding in their faces.Maya and Rami rushed in but Iron Hand twisted, threw something small and glowing at them. Davion’s eyes widened.“FLASH!” he yelled.Too late. The device burst like a tiny sun. The entire room lit up white, blinding, burning into retinas. Davion stumbled, vision swimming.“Crap—” Maya hissed. “I can’t see!”Rami bumped into a filing cabinet. “Bro—this hurts—why does this hurt—”
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