THE OMEGA PROTOCOL: RESETTING EARTH

Chapter 5

Three Months Before the Apocalypse

At the central hospital, Leo and Finn had hoped Hannah could still be saved. Finn paced back and forth, his breath ragged with impatience, until Leo finally emerged. Finn rushed to meet him, searching his face for an answer he already dreaded.

"Was she able to be revived?" Finn demanded, though Leo's downcast expression and the tears streaming from his eyes told him everything before the words came.

"I'm sorry, Finn. She couldn't make it. She's gone." Leo's knees buckled, and he collapsed to the floor as though the weight of the world had been dropped onto his shoulders.

She had been his first love, and her loss tore through him like nothing before.

"No way!" Finn's voice cracked, fresh tears spilling faster than before. "Leo, you couldn't protect her? Even after everything you said about loving her?"

"You know I did everything I could," Leo shot back, his voice raw. "I ordered her to stay back. She went anyway."

"No, you didn't do enough!" Finn roared, his lungs straining with fury and grief. "You didn't let me love her! If you had, I wouldn't have let her die! She would still be alive!"

"She's gone, Finn," Leo said quietly, reaching out to pull him into an embrace. But Finn recoiled, shoving past him and storming off, leaving Leo alone with his devastation.

Present Day, New York City

Leo remembered Julian's words—that the codex could be converted into anything he willed. His mind raced to a car, something fast enough to whisk the nurses accompanying Rose to safety.

He watched in horror as Finn and his pack of alien beasts tore through the hospital floor by floor, hunting with brutal efficiency, until Finn's eyes locked onto the one he sought.

Few Hours Ago

Finn reveled in his newfound power, the cybernetic enhancements coursing through him courtesy of the Anti-Omega Protocol. When he learned his target was Leo, a savage grin spread across his face.

"You have no idea what it means to me, catching Leo," Finn said, unable to mask his excitement as he addressed Johnson.

"Yes, well, that's not the priority right now." Johnson's tone turned cold, clinical. "You need to capture this woman—Rose Smith." He gestured to the screen, where Rose appeared in her medical scrubs, unaware she had become a target.

"Aside from the fact that she's beautiful and outranks your surname in importance, what makes her so valuable?" Finn pressed.

"That's none of your business," Johnson snapped. "Your priority is to capture her—eliminate anything that stands in your way."

"Noted, boss." Finn smirked, sensing he'd pushed just far enough to test his master's patience without breaking it.

Present Day

The alien beasts roared in pursuit, their inhuman speed nearly matching the nanotech-bionic car as it screamed away from the hospital.

Outside, Leo, Finn, and the remaining alien beasts converged for a confrontation neither could avoid.

Finn understood Johnson's orders—Rose was the priority, not Leo. But standing here now, with Leo shielding her like a wall of defiance, there was no separating the two objectives. Leo had become the obstacle, and obstacles had to fall.

"Tell me, Leo—doesn't this feel familiar?" Finn's voice dripped with venom. "A nurse. A doctor. About to die just like Hannah did. Maybe this is karma finally catching up to you."

"You're delusional, Finn." Leo's eyes blazed with fury. "We both know I had nothing to do with her death."

They lunged at each other in perfect synchrony, matched in speed, strength, and rage, their enhanced bodies colliding with bone-jarring force.

Their combat skill was extraordinary, sharpened to a lethal edge by the nanotech bionics fused into their very cells.

Within seconds, twin blades materialized from their hands, steel singing through the air as the fight erupted.

"Just like old times," Finn taunted, his blade slashing toward Leo's face. Leo ducked and countered in one fluid motion.

"Just like old times," Leo echoed grimly, striking back. "Except now we're enemies." Finn deflected the blow, spun, and conjured a bionic weapon in a desperate bid to end the fight quickly.

Bullets tore through the air. Leo dodged most, but one found its mark—yet his kinetic manipulation kicked in instantly, absorbing the impact and channeling it back through his own weapon. The resulting blast sent Finn hurtling backward, flipping through the air before he crashed down near the car.

The vehicle had done exactly as Leo intended, delivering the nurses safely out of danger before circling back. But Leo froze in disbelief—Rose had returned.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded, staring at her in shock. "You could see he wants you gone—out of harm's way!"

"I came back to help," she said, refusing to budge.

"Help? You have no idea what I am—what we are!" His voice rose, incredulous. "The best way you can help is by running!" Even as he said it, Michael's warning echoed in his mind: he would need a team if his mission stood any chance of succeeding.

"I beg to differ," Rose said, chin lifted in defiance.

"Get in. We'll figure this out together. I don't understand everything you do, but I'm willing to learn," she added, climbing toward the car despite his protests.

"You can't run from me forever, Leo!" Finn bellowed, hauling himself upright and summoning his own vehicle, fury radiating from every line of his body as he prepared to give chase.

"Who exactly is he to you?" Rose rounded on Leo, anger flashing in her eyes.

"An old friend. Now a rival. It's a long story—we need to go." Leo practically shoved her into the car, urgency sharpening every word.

"Julian, take us home. Convert to a plane if you can," Leo commanded, recognizing that retreat was their only option against overwhelming numbers.

"Noted, boss. Might I suggest deploying cybernetically enhanced androids? They could match the alien beasts in combat," Julian offered.

"Perfect. Activate them," Leo ordered. A mechanical whir rippled through the air, growing louder by the second.

The androids emerged from every direction, swarming toward Finn and his beasts in a wave of gleaming steel and violent purpose.

At last, the plane mode engaged, and they lifted off, leaving the chaos below.

*Clang!* The sound rang out sharp and sudden, then thickened into something more ominous.

"That's no bird," Julian warned.

"Of course not," Leo muttered, Rita's words echoing in his memory. The screen flickered to life, revealing the monstrous shapes circling outside—wild, ravenous, and closing in fast.

Just as Leo had unleashed his androids, Finn answered in kind, summoning his own swarm of flying alien beasts, every one of them bound to the will of the Anti-Omega Protocol and the shadowy government that commanded it.