May 16, 2016 — Grayson Residence — 8:04 p.m.
Routine had returned to the Grayson home.
At least on the surface.
Nothing Nolan had done allowed that routine to feel real again.
Kai put away the last pot while Mark collected the plates from the table.
Debbie stood in front of the sink, wiping down part of the counter. When Mark placed the plates beside her, she turned on the faucet.
"Thanks for dinner, Kai. You didn't have to make it."
He closed the cabinet and picked up the glasses still on the table.
"I know, but I wanted to take care of it."
Debbie studied him for a moment before picking up one of the plates.
"Leave the dishes to me."
Kai placed the glasses beside the sink without arguing.
For several seconds, only the sound of running water filled the kitchen.
Then the communicator sounded.
"Finally." Mark brought two fingers to his ear. "Invincible."
Kai answered a moment later.
Cecil's voice came through.
"We have an incident, and the Guardians are dealing with a metahuman who went berserk in Florida."
He didn't waste any time before continuing.
"Do you think you're ready to return to active duty?"
En Route to the Port — 8:19 p.m.
Kai and Mark crossed the sky above the city lights.
Cecil's voice continued through their communicators.
"The Mauler Twins escaped from prison. We tracked them to a warehouse at the port."
Mark rolled his eyes.
"These guys again."
"We don't know what they were building, but it's something big. We've now detected a powerful energy wave coming from there."
The port lights were already visible ahead.
"This is your mission."
The transmission ended.
It was the first mission either of them had received since March.
Mark glanced at Kai.
"You didn't have to come. I could've handled it."
"They haven't called us in for a while. It might be serious."
Kai increased his speed toward the port.
Port Warehouse — 8:20 p.m.
The machine at the center of the warehouse made the floor vibrate.
"Energy stable. Neural matrices warming up."
One of the Mauler Twins monitored the data on the control panel while the other adjusted the connections to the central structure. Several seats surrounded the core, each occupied by a different version of Angstrom Levy, motionless beneath helmets connected to the machine by thick cables.
The Levy who had broken the twins out of prison watched their work with a smile.
"You're about to change the world."
One of the Maulers didn't take his eyes off the panel.
"Open the portals. We're connecting the other nine machines."
Levy brought a hand to his head.
The air near the ceiling folded. Nine portals opened around the structure, each revealing another similar machine in a different dimension.
The second Mauler activated the mechanism.
Lines of energy awakened inside the core and spread through the cables. The Levys restrained in the seats convulsed as the other machines responded through the portals, all falling into the same rhythm.
"A thousand synchronized minds."
The Mauler pointed toward the only empty seat.
"Your throne."
Levy settled into it and pulled the helmet over his head.
"We're running a thousand simultaneous processes so you can receive their memories without forgetting that you are you."
The other twin checked the levels on the panel.
"The warning is that once this starts, there's no going back."
Levy closed his hands around the arms of the chair.
"I'm ready."
The core gained power. Energy traveled through the cables and reached the seats in a single wave, arching the connected bodies as Levy closed his eyes and felt the first memories pressing into his mind.
A section of the ceiling crashed into the center of the warehouse.
BOOM!
Invincible and Infinity passed through the opening directly behind it and landed among the wreckage. Metal and concrete were still falling when they looked up at the machine occupying nearly the entire building.
Cecil's voice came through their communicators.
"What's the situation?"
Kai studied the identical men restrained in the seats, the portals open near the ceiling, and the energy running through the entire structure.
"How are we supposed to explain something this absurd?"
"Start talking."
Mark tried to organize what he was seeing.
"It looks like a giant mechanical Christmas tree with a bunch of identical guys sitting around it and portals in the ceiling."
Kai spotted the twins on the lower level.
"And the Maulers are down there."
Cecil's voice came back sharper.
"Figure it out."
The twins stepped away from the panel and clenched their fists.
"Time for a rematch."
Mark smiled.
"Oh, I've really been needing something to punch. If you don't turn that thing off, I'm pulling the plug."
He charged the first twin.
Kai intercepted the other before he could reach the controls.
The first impacts shook the warehouse. The transfer didn't stop. Energy continued passing through the helmets as Kai and Mark forced the twins away from the core.
Restrained in the central seat, Levy raised his voice.
"Hey! Stop! You don't understand!"
Kai dodged the first punch and struck the Mauler in the chest.
"Stop fighting and listen to me! This is for the greater good!"
The next fist came toward Kai's face.
For a fraction of a second, he didn't react.
It wasn't Nolan's voice, but the words were far too similar.
Order. Control. A better world built by someone convinced that only he knew what needed to be done.
Kai started moving again late enough that the blow passed close to his head. He grabbed the Mauler's arm and threw him into a column with more force than he intended.
Mark had noticed the hesitation. His smile disappeared when his eyes met his brother's.
He looked back at Levy.
"Bad luck for you. We heard that excuse recently."
The two advanced again.
Levy pulled his arms against the restraints on the chair but didn't remove the helmet.
"Then you leave me no choice."
Portals opened throughout the warehouse.
Blue hands emerged through the first, followed by arms, heads, and enormous bodies.
Other versions of the Maulers filled the building. Some wore armor. Others had scars, implants, or deformities. There were female versions of the twins and a blue creature with one arm larger than its own torso.
Within seconds, Kai and Mark were surrounded.
The first Mauler attacked Mark from the side.
Kai caught the fist before it reached him and threw the giant into two others.
"Good thing I came, huh?"
Another appeared behind Kai.
Mark struck him before the blow reached his brother, launching him into a stack of containers.
"Hey, don't you have some kind of power that could deal with this faster?"
A third tried to grab him. Mark slipped beneath the arm and struck him under the chin.
"I already told you. There are side effects."
Mark clicked his tongue.
"Yeah, it turns your hair white, from what I understand."
His fist sank into another Mauler's stomach and launched him across the warehouse.
"Terrible side effect."
Kai didn't respond.
A month earlier, he would have seen every attack before it began. He could have torn all of them from the ground or ended the fight within seconds.
He wouldn't do either.
Not until he was certain that he was the one making the decision.
The brothers continued advancing together. Kai broke apart the formations attempting to surround Mark. Mark created space whenever two or three of them turned toward Kai.
The Maulers fell one by one.
More continued emerging from the portals.
Kai brought one down beside the central machine and reached the control panel.
"Here. Now how do we stop this?"
Mark turned toward him while holding a Mauler by the arm.
"No idea. Ask one of these guys."
He twisted his body and threw the Mauler toward his brother.
Kai caught the giant by the neck and turned him toward the machine, restraining him from behind.
"So? How do we stop it?"
Levy struggled in his seat.
"Stop! You're going to destroy my utopia!"
Kai focused on the Mauler he was holding, waiting for an answer.
He didn't notice the other one approaching from behind.
Without the Six Eyes, he only sensed the attack when the arms closed around his shoulders.
The combined weight of both Maulers drove him into the central control panel.
CRASH!
The structure caved in. Part of the controls exploded into sparks, and the lines of energy lost their rhythm.
"Damn it!"
Mark saw the Mauler on top of his brother and charged without thinking.
His fist struck the giant and tore him away.
The blue body passed through the base of the machine.
The metal gave way.
The core tilted several inches.
One of the energy lines went dark. Another glowed brightly enough to rupture the cable's protective casing.
The Levys connected to the machine arched in their seats.
The energy that should have passed through a thousand minds began returning toward the center.
Levy raised his eyes toward the destroyed panel.
"No!"
The portals distorted.
Some contracted. Others suddenly widened, revealing fragments of skies, cities, and structures from other dimensions.
The entire machine groaned.
Kai pulled himself free from the wreckage and looked toward the core. The energy was no longer following the cables. It was accumulating inside the structure, compressed into an increasingly bright point.
Mark turned toward him.
They both understood at the same time.
Kai charged toward his brother.
Light consumed the warehouse before he could reach him.
The first impact produced no sound.
The pressure struck their bodies, crushed the seats, and tore the portals from the air. For an instant, different versions of the warehouse overlapped within the same space.
The sound came afterward.
BOOM!
The base of the machine ruptured.
Metal, fire, and bodies were thrown in every direction. The roof split open completely, the walls collapsed, and the shockwave passed through the port, shaking containers and shattering windows in neighboring warehouses.
Kai still saw Mark disappear inside the light.
The explosion reached him.
And everything went dark.
Fire crackled somewhere nearby.
Kai opened his eyes beneath a sheet of twisted metal. Its weight pressed against his chest but gave way when he pushed it aside.
He stood among the remains of the machine.
The warehouse was gone. Only sections of the walls remained, along with bent beams and pieces of the roof scattered throughout the port. The core occupied the center of a crater, still releasing sparks among the wreckage.
Mark emerged several yards ahead.
He was covered in dust and blood that didn't belong to him.
They both searched for movement.
They found none.
Mauler bodies lay scattered among the burned metal. Some were charred beyond recognition. Of others, only arms, parts of torsos, or dark stains on the concrete remained.
Among the remnants of the machine, there were still pieces of the seats.
And of the people who had been restrained in them.
Mark lowered his eyes.
Blood covered his hands and filled the seams of his gloves. For several seconds, he simply held them open in front of his face.
The tunnel returned.
The blood of people he had never known covering his uniform. Bodies being crushed against him while Nolan forced him to keep watching.
Mark rubbed his hands together, but the red only spread.
"Shit."
His voice came out lower than he intended.
"Not again."
Kai studied his brother but couldn't find anything to say.
The choice had been his.
Not activating the Six Eyes. Not touching the Void. Handling it with only the strength he shared with Mark.
Even so, people were dead.
Kai's gaze shifted back to the bodies.
The flames lost their shape.
The sounds of fire and collapsing metal began to recede, muffled by a growing pressure inside his head. The wreckage seemed to be directly in front of him and, at the same time, too far away to reach.
A shape moved within his vision.
A hand passed in front of his face.
The voice reached him distorted.
"Hello?"
Kai didn't react.
The fingers passed before his eyes again.
"Hello? Hello?"
He blinked.
The sound returned first. Fire. Footsteps across metal. Active communicators.
The hand gained definition.
Frost stood in front of him.
Kai followed the arm to her face and finally realized that he and Mark were no longer alone.
Rex stood beside her while the other Guardians spread throughout the remains of the warehouse. The Immortal observed the destruction behind them.
There was someone else with the group.
A tall, blond young man wore a dark blue uniform, almost black, fitted closely to his body. His boots and the mask covering only his eyes were silver.
Kai recognized him from the GDA base.
The new hero slowly turned, trying to take in the full extent of the destruction.
"Holy shit. You survived that?"
Rex pointed toward the brothers.
"Looks like more than one of them is invincible."
The young man extended his hand, although neither brother showed any intention of shaking it.
"Undertow. The guy who does what the old Aquarus used to do, only better-looking."
Rex looked at Mark.
The blood still covered his hands. The next joke died before it could leave his mouth with the same tone.
"Hey, don't get all sad over this shit."
He gestured toward the scattered bodies.
"They were the Maulers. And apparently there were a whole lot of them. Whatever they were doing here, you solved the problem."
Cecil's voice cut through their communicators.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Rex."
Mark closed his hands so he wouldn't have to keep looking at them.
"There were other people here, Cecil. And even the Maulers didn't deserve this."
Kai stayed facing the wreckage.
Cecil's voice continued through the communicators.
"They dug their own graves. You kept your communicators open, followed the information I gave you, and ended this without any civilians or heroes dying."
Cecil didn't give Mark room to interrupt him.
"You did the right thing. This is what happens when you listen to me. Understood?"
Neither of them responded.
"Now go home. We'll handle the cleanup and determine what they were planning."
His voice shifted toward someone else.
"Immortal, search for survivors and report back to me."
"Understood."
Kai and Mark left the ground, slowly rising above the wreckage.
The Immortal removed the communicator from his ear. His brow furrowed as he watched them leaving.
Without warning, he shot upward and intercepted them.
Kai and Mark stopped in midair, the wind carrying some of the debris from their clothing.
The Immortal stood with his arms crossed.
"Cecil believes you're on our side." His voice came out hard, cutting through the wind. His gaze passed over Mark and settled on Kai.
"I don't."
Kai held his stare.
"I'm watching both of you."
The Immortal indicated what remained of the warehouse with a short movement of his head.
"I don't believe you couldn't have prevented this."
He turned his back on them and returned to the Guardians.
Kai hovered in place.
Below him, the bodies appeared smaller among the wreckage.
Not any less dead.
Mark didn't open his mouth. He merely followed the Immortal's flight path with narrowed eyes and clenched fists.
Neither of them tried to justify what had happened.
Mark was the first to move.
Kai followed shortly afterward, leaving the port behind.
Grayson Residence — Later
The house was dark when they returned.
Mark entered first and didn't look for the light switch. He headed directly toward the stairs, the Immortal's accusation still trapped inside his head.
I don't believe you couldn't have prevented this.
Maybe he was wrong.
He probably was.
But Kai had hidden the fact that he possessed additional powers. He had also seemed to understand the truth about Nolan before anyone else. Now he refused to use something that, judging by what the Immortal had implied, might have ended the fight before the explosion.
Mark went upstairs without waiting for his brother.
Kai caught up to him on the second floor. When he entered his bedroom, Mark remained near the door.
"What can you really do?"
Kai turned toward him.
"Well, I already told you. I was born with an energy inside me—"
"Yeah. You can see more, pull things, push them. You already told me that part."
Kai stopped.
Mark searched for a way to continue without turning it into an accusation.
"It's just... finding out who Dad really was came as a shock to me. But ever since I woke up, it's like you already knew."
Kai didn't look away.
"You didn't even call him Dad. You only started doing that during the last three years. I don't know what you two said during the fight because I only saw the version they showed on TV, but..."
Mark let the sentence die for a moment.
"That's what it looks like."
Kai looked away and remained silent for a moment.
After hearing Elise tell him that he shouldn't be in that world, telling Mark that he remembered another life didn't seem like a good idea. Even less so admitting that he had suspected Nolan since infancy or that he had hidden those powers for more than ten years.
"When he told us he came from Viltrum when we were kids, some parts of the story seemed strange."
Kai placed one hand on the back of his chair.
"After that, I started becoming suspicious of other things."
It wasn't the whole truth.
The irritation that crossed his face when he remembered Nolan, however, wasn't feigned. There was no satisfaction in having been right. Only the resentment of someone who still wished every suspicion had been wrong.
Mark noticed.
Although he was still upset, the next question didn't come.
Kai watched his brother for several more seconds before releasing a breath.
"I'm going to get something to eat." His voice came out calm, carrying its usual bored tone.
Mark merely moved away from the door to let him pass.
Kai went downstairs.
When he turned on the kitchen light, he found Debbie sitting at the counter with her head resting on one arm. A wineglass lay on its side beside her, and a dark stain spread across the surface.
"Mom? Are you okay?"
Debbie woke and raised her head too quickly.
"Yes... I just fell asleep."
She followed his gaze toward the glass.
"Or drank too much."
Kai grabbed a cloth and lifted the glass.
"Probably both."
Debbie fixed her hair and stayed seated while he wiped up the wine.
"How was the mission?"
"The machine exploded."
She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the beginnings of a headache.
Kai continued.
"There were a bunch of versions of the Maulers and another guy connected to it. Some of them died."
Kai rinsed the cloth in the sink, allowing the sound of running water to become the only noise in the kitchen for a moment.
"Mark thinks I could've prevented it."
"Did he say that?"
"Not exactly."
Kai left the cloth on the counter.
"The Immortal did. Mark only asked what I can really do."
Debbie waited for him to continue.
"I already explained most of it. He just doesn't seem to want to understand."
"He understands."
Kai met her eyes.
Debbie set the empty glass upright.
"Mark admires you. He always has. That's exactly why he's upset. Because you allowed him to believe he knew everything. I was shocked too when I learned that you could do more than your father and brother, but I'm your mother, so I see it differently than he does."
Kai opened the refrigerator but didn't take anything.
Debbie rested her arms on the counter.
"Maybe it would be better to give him some space."
"That's what I've done with everyone so far. Apparently, I need to work harder at it."
"Kai... Giving someone space isn't the same as disappearing."
Kai closed the refrigerator door.
She observed her son's white hair, the dark shade beginning to appear at the roots, the marks of exhaustion beneath his eyes, and the way he stood there without truly seeming willing to go anywhere.
"I worry about you. All this time, you were making excuses about bleaching your hair when you were actually trying to deal with this alone."
Debbie reached toward Kai's hair and slowly ran her fingers through it.
"The GDA said your hair returning to its normal color was a sign that you were improving. I think that until you recover, you could accept the job Janet offered you."
Kai didn't react.
"Spend some time away from this. From being Infinity."
Debbie lowered her hand to her son's shoulder before he could interpret it as a request to abandon everything or as evidence that she distrusted him.
"If something serious happens, you go. But you don't need to chase every incident just to prove that you still can. I never want to see you the way you were that day with your father again."
He didn't respond.
After a long moment, Kai finally looked at her, concern replacing the distant look in his eyes.
"I know Cecil told you about my powers. That probably made things easier to understand..."
He hesitated.
"But... about what happened with Nolan."
His voice dropped.
"You really heard everything, didn't you?"
Debbie looked away.
A shadow crossed her face before she gave a slow nod.
"From your father's speech... to the moment you defeated him."
She swallowed.
"And after that... when you lost yourself."
Kai's expression tightened.
For an instant, Nolan's words echoed through his mind.
A pet.
His hands slowly curled into fists.
His jaw locked so hard that the muscles along his face twitched.
Neither of them spoke again.
Debbie lowered her eyes, while Kai stood perfectly still in front of the refrigerator, unable to tell whether the anger rising inside him was directed at Nolan... or at himself.
"Think about taking a break, son."
He didn't respond.
He accepted his mother's affection and merely waited for her to return to her bedroom before going back upstairs himself.
The Following Morning — Grayson Residence
Debbie waited for both of them near the entrance with two envelopes in her hands. The Upstate University seal occupied the corner of each one.
"Something arrived for you."
Kai took the envelope bearing his name. Mark received the other but kept it sealed.
Kai tore open the paper without much urgency, as though it didn't matter. Before removing the letter, he looked at his brother.
"You were the one who was so anxious. Aren't you going to open yours?"
"I'm waiting to open it with Amber."
Mark placed the envelope inside his backpack.
"See you later."
Kai watched the door swing shut. The tension from the previous night was still there, even though Mark hadn't returned to the subject.
He opened the letter.
The first few lines confirmed his admission to Upstate.
Kai unfolded the letter and read it in silence.
Debbie watched him, raising a curious eyebrow.
"You got in?"
"Judging by the congratulations in the first line, it looks like I did."
She leaned toward him with what appeared to be a good idea.
"Then that seems like another reason to accept Janet's job offer."
Kai folded the letter again.
"I don't see the connection."
"Experience, responsibility, something that doesn't involve flying through ceilings."
She pointed toward the envelope.
"And didn't you say you wanted to study medicine?"
He had.
But for a reason that no longer existed.
He also had absolutely no desire to attend college or work for Janet.
His first impulse was to ignore both, return home after school, and continue doing exactly what he had already been doing.
Kai's eyes drifted back to the door Mark had left through.
The problem was that he didn't know where that impulse came from.
Maybe it truly belonged to him.
Or maybe his damaged brain was pushing him back toward isolation whenever a decision required some kind of change.
Kai placed the letter inside his backpack.
"I'm leaving."
The walk to school didn't make the idea any more appealing.
Accepting the job wouldn't prove that he was fine. It also wouldn't prove that the Void had stopped influencing him.
But it would be a different choice.
If his impulse was to refuse, remain still, and avoid committing to anything, he would do the opposite. Even if it was only to discover whether he could still choose against his own patterns.
Kai stopped before the school entrance and took his phone from his pocket.
He stared at the contact for several seconds.
I really must be losing my mind.
He raised the phone to his ear.
"Hello? Janet?"
Two Days Later — May 19, 2016 — PRZ Global Logistics — After School
Janet had agreed before Kai finished explaining why he was calling.
The enthusiasm on the other end almost made him change his mind. Even so, two days later, he maintained his decision to do exactly what he would normally avoid and appeared at the office after school.
PRZ Global Logistics occupied several floors of a tower in downtown Chicago. Glass walls divided elegant departments, impeccably organized desks, and employees responsible for maintaining supply chains across continents without the rest of the world ever noticing the complexity involved.
The stacks of reports and overloaded spreadsheets stood out from everything else.
Janet handed Kai a temporary badge and guided him down the central corridor.
"We work in this department. Supply chains, international transportation, cargo control, and every problem that appears when someone decides to send ten thousand tons of something to the wrong side of the planet."
Kai studied the screens spread across the desks. Maps displayed shipping routes, airports, distribution centers, and cargo changing position in real time.
Although he had never worked in an office during that life, nothing about it seemed unfamiliar.
The constant sound of keyboards, the quiet conversations, the white lighting, and the people pretending not to observe whoever passed through the corridor belonged to a routine he had repeated for years before dying.
"It's temporary and part-time." Janet maintained her pace as she explained. "After school, until you start college. Or until you decide to leave."
"An optimistic proposal."
"I already know what you can do. While you're here, the help will be very welcome."
Janet stopped between two rows of desks.
"Kai?"
The voice came from the left.
He turned.
July stood behind a desk covered in reports, with a spreadsheet open on each monitor. For an instant, they both tried to reconcile the person before them with the memory of the last time they had seen each other at the mall.
July had always been beautiful. Now there was something more self-assured in the way she carried herself before him, even while surrounded by unfinished work. The office clothes, her carefully arranged long, straight dark hair, and the contrast between it all and her light blue eyes made her seem more distant from the girl Kai remembered.
She studied him long enough to notice the differences as well. Kai was taller, his shoulders broader, and the office shirt no longer concealed how much his body had changed. His almost entirely white hair made the reunion even harder to ignore.
"July."
Her surprise transformed into a smile.
Janet looked between them, far too pleased with the coincidence that wasn't a coincidence.
"I think I forgot to mention that July works here too."
Kai tilted his head at her, raising an eyebrow that matched his ironic tone.
"Of course you forgot."
July gave a short laugh.
"You still have the same expression of someone who would rather be anywhere else."
"Damn. I thought I was hiding it well."
Janet indicated the empty desk beside July's.
"You'll be working here."
Kai placed his backpack beside the chair.
"Right. Now, which button turns the computer on again?"
Janet laughed.
"Very funny. We still use the spreadsheet you made for me that one time. Without it, half this floor would still be copying numbers manually."
"That simple antique?" Kai examined the number of reports covering July's desk. "And apparently, the other half is still doing it manually."
July dropped back against her chair and gave him a sideways look.
"Oh, here we go."
Janet placed a folder beside his keyboard.
Inside were cargo reports, transportation records, and lists exported from three different systems. The same codes appeared in incompatible formats, forcing someone to check each line before transferring the data into the internal database.
"These reports need to be cross-checked against the information in the transportation system. Then someone organizes the discrepancies, corrects the formatting, and updates the database."
Kai scanned the first page.
"Someone does this manually?"
July pointed toward the stack on her desk.
"Someone does this manually."
Janet rested a hand against the back of the empty chair.
"If there's a less stupid way of doing it, you'll probably find it."
Kai sat down and opened the files.
In that world, human beings traveled across dimensions. The GDA built weapons capable of striking targets beyond the atmosphere and stored alien technology beneath the Pentagon.
Even so, one of the largest logistics companies on the planet still employed people to copy numbers from one spreadsheet to another.
Impressive.
The systems weren't difficult. They had simply been created during different periods by people who had never needed to make them communicate with one another.
Kai requested access to the testing environment and began by connecting the exported files to the database. He created rules to recognize the different identification formats, distinguish genuine inconsistencies from input errors, and prevent incomplete records from being submitted automatically.
July tried to return to her own work, but her eyes drifted toward the screen beside her whenever another window closed.
"You already figured out how the system works?"
"More or less."
"It took me a week just to find where the correct information was stored."
"That's the problem."
Kai opened another file.
"The correct information is stored in three different places."
Within a short time, he created a simple tool to gather the data, compare the records, and return only the items that genuinely needed to be checked by a person.
Less than an hour later, the report that would normally consume most of the afternoon had been organized onto a single screen.
Twelve records contained discrepancies.
The rest could already be submitted.
Kai tested the process again before removing his hands from the keyboard.
A woman had stopped on the other side of the glass partition.
Betty Hepburn wore a suit without a single detail out of place, and the decorations on her badge made her name impossible to miss. Her bright red hair was tied back in a tight ponytail, and her severe expression matched the folder held firmly against her body. Her figure looked almost unnaturally sculpted, the kind of appearance that suggested more silicone than genetics. Kai didn't think it looked bad—only expensive, carefully manufactured, and strangely fitting for someone who seemed to have invested as much in appearances as in her career.
She entered the department and walked directly toward the new desk.
"So you're Janet's recommendation."
Kai rotated his chair enough to face her.
"For now."
Betty ignored the response and looked at the monitor.
"Have they explained how you're supposed to check the reports?"
"They have."
"Good. Perhaps by the end of the week, you'll manage to finish the first one without causing problems in the database."
Kai opened the screen containing the results.
"I already finished it."
Betty's eyes snapped to him.
Kai ran the tool again. The files were imported, the records compared, and the discrepancies separated in front of her.
"He also fixed the integration problem between the spreadsheets and the test database." Janet approached from the next row. "Now we only need to validate it before using it throughout the rest of the department."
Betty examined the data. She tried to find an obvious error, but all the information retained the original records beside the suggested corrections.
"It's an acceptable start."
She closed the folder she was carrying.
"It would be good if everyone here could work with that level of efficiency."
Her gaze moved toward the stack of reports on July's desk before returning to Kai.
July noticed.
So did Janet.
Betty stepped past him, lightly brushing a hand against his shoulder and offering a polished smile that never quite reached her eyes.
"Keep up the good work."
She walked away without another word.
Kai followed the woman with his eyes as she crossed the partition.
"Is she always like that?"
"She was in a good mood today." July looked back at her own screen
"Bitch." She clicked her tongue. "Congratulations. You're handsome, so you got the VIP treatment."
Janet took the tool Kai had created so the technology team could begin validating it. Over the following hour, activity in the office slowed and the desks began to empty.
Kai closed the final file and picked up his backpack.
July was still beside him, now with a significant portion of her reports already processed by the tool.
She watched him stand and shook her head.
"You haven't changed at all since school. You still make everything look easy."
May 20, 2016 — PRZ Global Logistics
The following afternoon, the elevator doors opened onto the same glass corridor, the same white lighting, and the same sound of keyboards.
Kai paused for a moment.
What a pain in the ass.
The urge to hit the ground-floor button came so naturally it almost felt like a command.
He stepped out of the elevator.
July raised her eyes when she saw him leave his backpack beside the desk.
"You came back."
"I'm surprised too."
She smiled and returned her attention to the monitor.
Kai sat down.
He wasn't any more satisfied with the choice than he had been the day before. The work was still repetitive, the environment was still enclosed, and any flight over the city would have been more pleasant than spending hours beneath those lights.
Even so, he had returned.
For now, that was enough.
Over the following days, his temporary badge began opening doors before anyone needed to accompany him. Kai left school, crossed the city, and occupied the desk beside July's until activity in the office began to slow.
Janet gave him tasks that had accumulated over several weeks. July showed him where to find the information no one had bothered to document. Kai found ways to complete the work without repeating the same steps for hours.
He didn't like the routine.
But he didn't abandon it.
Third Day at the Office — May 23, 2016 — PRZ Global Logistics — 5:26 p.m.
Betty Hepburn dropped a folder onto July's desk.
The impact made several reports slide aside.
"This closing report should have been submitted on Friday."
July opened the folder and recognized the first few pages.
"I submitted it. Janet approved it before six."
"Then explain why the totals don't match the system records."
Betty turned one of the pages and pointed to a sequence of highlighted values.
"Three distribution centers show different costs from the ones that were approved. Now the report has to be redone because you didn't verify the numbers before submitting it."
July pulled the folder closer.
"Those aren't the values I entered."
"The documents have your name on them."
The conversation was already beginning to attract attention from the nearby desks. July opened the original file on her computer and searched for the submitted version, but the screen showed only the most recent report.
Kai followed the discussion without removing his hands from the keyboard.
"What time did you submit it?"
Betty turned toward him.
"I'm not speaking to you."
Kai turned to July.
"What time?"
"Five forty-three."
He accessed the timestamp table in the training environment, which replicated production, and compared the versions stored in the system. The first retained the values July had submitted. Another had been created almost an hour later. Even so, in the production environment, the history of July's submission had disappeared.
Kai turned the monitor toward them.
"Her report was correct."
Betty moved closer to the screen.
Kai opened the change log.
"Janet approved it at five fifty-one. The values were modified at six forty-two through the administrative account ADM-04."
July compared the numbers displayed beside the printed document.
They were the same ones Betty had marked.
Kai recovered the previous version and restored the values in a copy.
"If the system had replaced the original file, July's name would appear as the person responsible for the latest change. It kept the document's author, but the internal log shows a different account... And for some reason, that account had been wiped from the history."
Betty read the information without changing her expression.
"Then correct the report and submit it again."
July closed the folder.
"It's already corrected."
Betty glanced at Kai as though the speed were more inconvenient than the error itself.
"Good."
She collected the documents and left the department without acknowledging her earlier accusation.
July waited until Betty had crossed the glass partition.
"She isn't even going to admit it wasn't my fault."
"You expected her to?"
"No."
July looked back at the history he had found.
"But thank you."
Kai returned the monitor to its previous position.
"I only opened the log."
July shook her head, but her smile remained as she returned to work.
That night, Kai arrived home as Mark finished putting on his uniform.
The mask lay on the bed. The communicator attached to his ear was already relaying information about an incident.
"They called you?"
Mark adjusted one of his gloves.
"An attack in Milwaukee. The Guardians are busy."
Kai entered the room and left his backpack beside the desk.
Neither of them asked whether the other was going.
"I'll be back later."
"Okay."
Mark opened the window and disappeared into the sky.
Wind entered the room for several seconds before Kai closed it.
May 27, 2016 — PRZ Global Logistics — 6:11 p.m.
July turned her chair toward Kai while waiting for a report to load.
"You need to bleach your hair again."
Kai ran a hand through it.
The dark color was already visible at the roots and had spread across part of its length, although white still predominated.
"Are you going to stop bleaching it?"
"That's the plan."
July seemed to wait for an explanation.
When none came, she returned to her own screen.
Kai continued reviewing the records from that week.
July's corrected report should have ended the problem. However, the ADM-04 account appeared in other changes made after Janet's approval within the training environment.
Kai opened one of them.
Two identical payments had been recorded for the same shipment but divided between different cost centers. In another file, a larger amount had been separated into three smaller transfers. Every one of them remained below the threshold that would require new authorization.
He compared the dates.
The changes always happened near the end of the workday.
Always after approval.
Always through the same account.
Always only in training, with the record erased from production.
Kai checked a third time before accepting that it wasn't merely an input error.
I haven't even been here a month, and they're already putting obvious problems right in front of me.
Better to leave it alone for now.
Kai closed some of the windows.
"Like they say, the good employee is rewarded with more work."
He saved a copy of the records outside the shared folder and returned to the report he was supposed to finish.
There was still a small chance that it was a poorly executed correction, some accounting rule he didn't know yet, or merely another consequence of the company's incompatible systems.
Even so, he didn't delete the copy.
Beside him, July was staring at him. When she saw him looking back, she returned to her work.
Kai did the same.
Meanwhile — A Distant Galaxy
Thragg's command chamber had been built to monitor wars spread across entire star systems.
At its center, a stellar projection occupied the space between the floor and ceiling. Routes, conquered worlds, and military signals moved around the three Viltrumites while Earth remained enlarged before them as a small blue point.
Veron operated the panel without taking his attention from the data.
"We recovered the records from the ancient satellites and relays maintained at the edges of the cosmos."
New points appeared on the map, forming an irregular network across regions the Empire had ceased monitoring thousands of years earlier.
"Some of the equipment has been lost since the mission ordered by Argall. The units that remained operational recorded a fluctuation consistent with the Void."
The projection focused on Earth.
A line appeared in front of the planet.
The fluctuation rose abruptly and remained active long enough to pass through the ancient relays before disappearing.
Veron pointed toward a map of galaxies.
"Origin confirmed at this position."
Thragg observed the record without changing his posture.
"Earth."
Veron reduced the map until it displayed the solar system and part of the surrounding regions.
A trajectory departed Earth on the same day as the fluctuation, extending beyond orbit before becoming incomplete.
"We managed to reconstruct its initial direction, but we lost the trail when it crossed this region."
The line disappeared among systems not yet subjected to Viltrumite control.
Thragg remained before the projection.
Nolan had maintained his position on Earth for years. He wouldn't abandon a mission of that importance without reason.
"Either he found something on that planet and deserted after seeing it..."
His gaze returned to the fluctuation.
"Or something on Earth was capable of driving him away."
Veron didn't offer a third possibility.
Garkan had watched the fluctuation in silence since the beginning of the presentation. The marks of time across his face didn't conceal the tension that appeared when the fluctuation was enlarged.
"The signature is the same."
Thragg moved only his eyes toward him.
Garkan didn't retreat.
"That was the energy that activated the signal and brought my warriors back to the Empire. The intensity is greater, but there is no doubt about its origin."
Thragg's eyes returned to Earth.
For thousands of years, that network had remained nearly useless. Now the Void had manifested on the same planet where one of his most powerful agents had disappeared.
Coincidences existed among lesser species.
Not within a Viltrumite operation.
"Summon Lucan, Thula, and Vidor."
Veron closed part of the projection.
"They will follow Nolan's last known trajectory."
Garkan looked at the officer.
"Select two more warriors from my former command."
Veron waited for the Emperor's approval before carrying out the order.
Garkan kept his voice controlled.
"If Nolan's disappearance is connected to the fluctuation, three Viltrumites may not be enough."
Thragg evaluated him for several seconds.
Garkan knew that signature better than any other warrior currently within the Empire. His concern didn't come from fear, but from a mission that had consumed thousands of years and that Argall had considered important enough to conceal from their own history.
"Choose the two."
Veron inclined his head.
"Yes, Grand Regent."
The projection changed. Five markers appeared over Nolan's possible route, while Earth remained highlighted behind them.
"Will they continue to the planet?" Veron kept his hand over the controls.
"No."
Thragg advanced toward the interrupted trajectory.
"First, they will find Nolan. Follow his direction, search for signs of combat, and interrogate every civilization he may have passed."
Earth grew smaller in the projection but didn't disappear.
Back on Earth — June 1, 2016 — PRZ Global Logistics
Kai no longer stopped in front of the elevator to consider leaving.
That afternoon, he passed through the glass doors and found his own desk clear. July's had almost disappeared beneath new reports.
She raised a folder as soon as she saw him.
"You arrived at the perfect time."
"That sentence never announces anything good."
"I need to close three reports, review two routes the system flagged incorrectly, and figure out why a shipment bound for Toronto is showing up at a distribution center in Mexico."
Kai left his backpack beside the chair.
"Maybe it wanted to see the world."
"I'll tell them that when they charge us the penalty."
July pushed some of the documents toward him.
Janet had spent the afternoon in meetings, and Betty had decided that every problem accumulated in the department needed to be resolved before the end of the workday. July understood the routes, contracts, and internal rules better than Kai. He understood how the systems distorted all of it.
For several hours, they worked without needing to formally divide every task.
July identified which information was wrong. Kai found where it had been changed. When he isolated the discrepancies, she checked the original documents and decided what needed to be corrected.
The Toronto shipment had been linked to the code of a Mexican city with a similar name. One of the routes appeared delayed because the system hadn't recognized the change in time zone. The final report contained payments that had been recorded twice.
Kai found the ADM-04 account among the changes again.
He didn't mention it.
He saved another record with the copies he had already separated and continued working.
Near five, July set her pen on the desk and flexed her fingers.
"Break."
"We get breaks?"
"We do when I decide I'm going to start making mistakes if I keep staring at this."
She took two packages of cookies from a drawer and pointed toward the corridor.
Kai followed July to a small outdoor area of the building. Several tables occupied the space between the glass walls and the barrier surrounding the side of the building. Downtown Chicago stretched beneath them, filled with the movement of the late afternoon.
July chose a table away from the door and handed him one of the packages.
The wind pushed several strands of her hair across her face. July tucked them behind her ear as she studied Kai's hair beneath the light.
The dark color now dominated the roots and extended through much of its length. The white remained more visible at the ends and in several strands near his forehead.
July opened her own package, barely looking away from him.
"Why did you accept the job?"
"First Janet insisted. Then my mother did."
"That wouldn't make you accept."
Kai gazed toward the buildings on the other side of the avenue.
"I was trying to do something I normally wouldn't."
"Work?"
"Come back the next day."
July laughed.
"Thank you for your honesty."
"That doesn't mean I hate everyone here."
"Only the building, the work, and most of the people."
"You learn quickly."
She leaned back in her chair, still smiling.
"You're still doing that too."
Kai turned toward her.
"Doing what?"
"Fixing things and acting like you didn't do anything."
"I only helped with a few reports."
"Today."
July placed the package on the table.
"You did the same thing at school."
Kai already knew which memory would probably come next.
"Mark told me years later that you were the one helping him before he helped everyone else with their assignments."
"Then he ruined my reputation."
"He also told me about the day I left my assignment at home."
Kai showed no sign of recognition.
July narrowed her eyes.
"The one that needed to be printed at the last minute. Everyone had given up, and suddenly Mark appeared with everything ready."
"A miracle."
"That's what I thought."
She leaned slightly toward him.
"Mark said you figured it out, printed it, and gave it to him to bring to me."
"He still had to cross the school."
July laughed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"You know, back then, I thought Mark was my savior. I even kissed him in the excitement."
Kai opened another cookie.
"Predictable. Back then, practically anything involving the name 'Mark' made you and Becky's hearts start pounding."
July laughed again but didn't abandon the question.
"You did that all the time. You solved something, stepped back, and let him occupy the space."
Kai kept his eyes on the package. She continued without looking away from him.
"Why?"
There was no answer he could offer.
He had already lived another life, so those things had seemed unimportant. Nothing but complications and unwanted attention. The habit of giving Mark the credit had begun before Kai himself understood the reason.
"Mark needed it more."
July studied his face.
"And you didn't need anything?"
"I did. Peace."
Kai turned toward July, studying her for a moment—the light eyes beneath the sun, the dark hair.
The moment lasted several seconds longer than it should have.
July noticed. She smiled faintly and remained silent, returning his gaze.
Kai quickly pushed the thought away. He had no way to know whether it came from Viktor's desire to flirt with every girl or from himself.
So he changed the subject.
"Speaking of the past, have you talked to Becky?"
July quickly looked away.
The same reaction Becky had given when Kai asked about July at the party in Upstate.
Silence returned, but this time without the chemistry from seconds earlier, until July changed the subject herself and said they should go back inside.
When they returned to the department, activity had already slowed. Some employees had finished for the day, leaving only scattered conversations and the sound of equipment.
They returned to the reports.
The final one took longer than it should have. The data was correct, but three departments had organized it in different formats. July stayed beside him, comparing the documents while Kai adjusted the information.
At one point, they both reached for the same sheet.
July's fingers touched his.
She didn't pull her hand away immediately.
The contact lasted slightly longer than necessary before she drew the report toward her side.
"This is the original value."
"Right."
They both returned to their screens, but it took July several seconds to begin typing again.
By the time they finished, nearly every desk was empty.
July submitted the files, waited for the confirmation to appear, and let her head fall backward.
"Done."
"You say that like they won't put another twenty things on your desk tomorrow."
"Let me enjoy it."
She turned off the monitor and picked up her bag.
"I'm buying you something as thanks."
"You don't need to."
"I'm not taking no for an answer."
Kai placed his backpack over one shoulder.
They left the building together.
The plaza near the bus stop was still busy. Employees left the surrounding towers, occupying the benches and small food stands near the sidewalk.
July pointed toward one of them.
"Tacos."
Kai slowed down.
"I don't like tacos."
"Have you eaten at that place?"
"No."
"Then you have to try them before saying you don't like them."
"If this is supposed to be a thank-you, you should buy something I like."
"You accepted the job because you wanted to do something you normally wouldn't."
Kai turned to her.
July was already heading toward the stand.
"Come on."
The urge to keep walking hit him immediately.
Tacos weren't the problem.
Staying was.
Spending the afternoon helping July had been easy because reports existed between them. Leaving beside her, accepting the invitation, and allowing the conversation to continue wasn't part of the job.
Kai changed direction and followed her.
A few minutes later, they stood near the bus stop with tacos in their hands. Kai examined his as though there were still some chance of discovering a hidden threat.
"Are you planning to eat it, or are you searching for an inconsistency like the ones in the reports?"
"I'm assessing the risks."
"It's meat, cheese, and sauce."
"That's how many tragedies began."
Kai took a bite.
July waited.
He chewed without changing his expression.
"It's edible."
"You liked it."
"Maybe."
July laughed and leaned against the low railing surrounding the plaza.
For a while, they talked about the office, the teachers who still seemed determined to pretend their final year of school mattered, and the possibility that both of them would attend Upstate.
The conversation eventually reached the people they had known before drifting apart.
July glanced at him over her taco.
"What about Kiana?"
Kai took another bite.
"What about her?"
July leaned back in her chair.
"You know, I saw the two of you at the mall a couple of years ago. You looked like the perfect couple." She shrugged. "She kept looking at you like you were some kind of god walking the earth. Then some time later I saw on social media that you were dating, and I thought, yeah, that checks out."
She smiled, clearly expecting the answer before asking.
"So... what did you do to make her leave you?"
From everything July had seen, she had always assumed Kai was the one who'd ended the relationship. Asking what he'd done to make Kiana leave him was simply her way of flipping that assumption into a joke.
Kai's answer came simply, without weight.
"I was myself."
July laughed at first.
Kai didn't.
"One day, she said she didn't love me anymore and decided to leave. I chose not to go after her. If she said that, it's true, or she had strong reasons for saying it. That's how relationships are. I just accepted it."
Her smile disappeared.
"I didn't know it happened like that. I'm sorry. I was joking."
Kai shrugged.
"Relax."
After being left a few times, it gets easier.
You become numb.
July lowered her eyes toward the wrapper in her hands, speaking mostly to cut through the uncomfortable mood.
"I've only seen her on social media. She seems pretty famous in Korea."
She forced a small laugh.
"I mean... that's good, right? Success is... nice."
The words sounded ridiculous even to her.
The more she tried to salvage the conversation, the more uncomfortable she became about having brought it up in the first place.
Kai finished his taco, watching her squirm.
She winced.
"...I should really stop talking now, shouldn't I?"
Kai let out a breath that was almost a laugh.
July's face turned red. Realizing it, she frowned and immediately crossed her arms.
"What are you laughing at?"
"You don't need to make that face. It happened a long time ago. I'm fine."
She turned away, maintaining the theatrically angry expression for one more second before slowly nodding with a smile.
"So you really aren't seeing anyone?"
Kai threw the wrapper into a nearby trash can.
"No girlfriend?"
"Thank God, there are currently no relationships involving complications."
July laughed again.
"You're exactly the same."
"I hope that was a compliment."
She turned toward him with both arms behind her back, leaning forward and teasing him with a smile.
"I'm not sure it was."
A bus she could have taken passed the stop without July showing any intention of boarding. She watched it disappear down the street and remained beside him.
"Back at our middle school graduation, I wanted to go with Mark."
Kai raised an eyebrow.
"I know. I remember. I helped him escape that trap."
July crossed her arms.
"Trap?"
"Two girls waiting for him to choose one without destroying the entire group. I saved his social life."
"I don't believe it! You made up that story about your mother forcing you to go, didn't you?"
"Exactly. Congratulations, Nancy Drew. You solved the case—a few years late, but you solved it."
She shook her head.
"And I've been feeling guilty all this time."
"If that guilt is going to make you buy me something else, make it a hamburger."
She laughed, staring directly at him.
"Actually, I brought it up because I wanted to apologize."
Kai noticed the change in her tone.
July stepped closer. The noise of the plaza continued around them, but her attention no longer followed the buses or the people crossing the sidewalk.
"Back then, I thought Mark did all those things. That he saved everyone's assignments, appeared whenever someone needed help, and always found a solution."
Her light eyes remained on his.
"Later, I found out that a lot of the time, it was you."
Kai didn't retreat.
July remained close enough for him to catch the faint scent of her perfume, which had previously been lost beneath the office's smell of paper and coffee.
"If I had to choose today, I would choose you. Or hope the drawing ended exactly the way it did."
Kai searched for any sign that she was turning it into a joke.
There was none.
Out of habit, his next decision would have been to steer the conversation away. Make some remark, pretend he hadn't understood, or let the moment disappear before it demanded anything from him.
This time, Kai leaned forward.
He didn't cross the entire distance.
July closed the rest.
Her lips touched his without hesitation. One hand lightly gripped the front of his shirt while Kai rested his fingers against her waist.
She responded when he deepened the kiss.
For several seconds, July stayed pressed against him, until the hand gripping his shirt lost its strength.
She pulled away.
Kai released her waist.
July was still close, but she no longer carried the same confidence as before.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"There's someone."
Kai showed no reaction, so she corrected herself before the sentence gave the wrong impression.
"He isn't my boyfriend. It's not like that."
July ran a hand through her hair, searching for a clearer way to explain.
"But there's something I still haven't resolved, and I don't want to drag you into the middle of it."
Kai watched her without speaking.
She seemed surprised that he didn't demand more.
"That's it? You aren't going to ask?"
"What do you want me to ask?"
"I don't know."
"When you figure it out, let me know."
July exhaled, divided between relief and something she couldn't completely hide.
Another bus approached the stop.
This time, July turned toward it, putting her back to Kai.
"I'm sorry. I have to go."
She boarded the bus without looking back.
Kai remained in the plaza until the vehicle disappeared among the cars. The taste of the taco was still in his mouth, mixed with hers.
He hadn't pulled away.
He hadn't tried to follow her either.
When he left the plaza, he returned home alone.
The days that followed settled into their own rhythm, Kai and July went back to sharing reports, breaks, and the space between their desks.
Neither of them mentioned the kiss.
Kai finished work at the usual time, packed his backpack, and returned home as though nothing had happened in the plaza. July came close to bringing it up more than once, but the ease with which he continued working made it difficult to tell whether he was respecting what she had asked or whether it simply hadn't mattered to him.
The rest of the world didn't wait for them to resolve it.
June 8, 2016 — Downtown New York City
The giant's fist tore through the side of a building.
BOOM!
Glass and concrete rained down over the avenue as people abandoned their cars and ran toward the side streets. The cyclops turned to follow them, opening the single eye in the center of his face even wider.
He stood several stories tall. His jaw projected forward, with two lower teeth larger than the rest. Black fingerless gloves covered his hands, decorated with straps and silver metal guards. The same color marked the waist of his dark pants.
He pointed toward the helicopters keeping their distance.
"I wanna be president!"
His voice made the remaining windows vibrate.
"And an astronaut! I wanna go to the Moon right now!"
The Guardians arrived as he tore away part of a building's facade in an attempt to reach an advertising screen.
Rex stopped in midair and raised his head until he found the creature's face.
"Holy shit."
The giant noticed the group and clapped his hands, pleased by the new audience.
"Are you taking me to the Moon?"
Rex looked at Undertow and Frost.
"Hey, can't you soak this thing and have Frost freeze it?"
Undertow adjusted his silver mask.
"I already told you, I don't create water. I can control it if there's some nearby, as long as it isn't too much."
"Besides talking to fish, can you do anything else, fish-boy?"
Frost studied the giant's height.
"Even if he managed to soak all of that, I couldn't freeze a creature this size."
"Love the teamwork."
The cyclops lowered his hand toward them.
The Immortal struck first. His shoulder hit one of the fingers and redirected the palm before it could crush the group.
Dupli-Kate divided across the intersection. Some copies moved civilians away while others climbed the giant's body, using the straps on his gloves and the folds of his pants for support.
Robot flew past the single eye and fired at his face.
The giant closed his eyelid.
"Stop!"
He swung his arms. Two of Kate's duplicates were thrown into an empty bus while Shrinking Rae reduced herself on Robot's shoulder to escape the blow.
Rex charged an uprooted street sign and threw it at the creature's leg. The explosion barely left a mark.
"Okay. That usually works better."
Undertow landed in the middle of the avenue.
A broken fire hydrant poured water across the street. He raised his arms, and the flow changed direction, gathering into a mass that struck the giant's chest.
The creature staggered half a step backward.
Undertow closed one hand. A manhole cover flew upward, followed by a column of dark water that joined the attack.
Part of it missed the cyclops.
The wave struck Rex, Frost, and several of Kate's copies.
Undertow lost his concentration.
"Oops."
Rex wiped his face with both hands.
"That came out of the sewer!"
"I needed more water."
"Is there something in my hair?"
Frost passed him before he could start searching.
"Hold still."
Ice spread through the water covering the ground and climbed the giant's legs. The layer couldn't trap him, but the cold made him cry out and move away from the building that was already beginning to collapse.
"It's cold!"
He tried to tear the ice away with both hands, stomping in the middle of the avenue like an irritated child.
"I don't like you!"
The Immortal charged again. The giant struck him with the back of his hand and sent him tearing through a store.
Robot fired at the knee joint. Rex struck the same spot with another explosion. Dupli-Kate pulled one of the legs while Rae returned to normal size near the creature's waist and struck the metal fasteners.
The cyclops lost his balance.
Before he could fall onto the buildings, a blue-and-yellow silhouette descended from the sky.
Mark struck the giant in the center of the chest.
BOOM!
The impact changed the direction of his fall. The cyclops crossed the avenue and crashed into a park, opening a long trench through the earth.
Mark didn't allow him to stand.
He grabbed one of the giant's arms, twisted his body, and threw him against the ground again. The second impact sent benches, trees, and signs flying around the crater.
The giant tried to raise his head.
Mark landed on his chest and held his fist ready.
"It's over."
The single eye filled with tears.
"You're mean."
Mark didn't attack.
The creature covered his face with both hands and began to cry, producing sobs that made the ground vibrate.
"I just wanted to go to the Moon."
Mark remained on top of him, far too uncomfortable to celebrate. The giant had destroyed buildings and nearly killed people, but there was no calculated threat in his expression.
Only frustration.
Mark lowered his fist.
Behind him, Robot transmitted the coordinates to the containment team.
PRZ Global Logistics — 4:38 p.m.
The broadcast occupied one of the televisions suspended inside the office.
Kai watched Mark on the screen the instant he entered the frame.
His hands left the keyboard.
On the television, the giant advanced on the Guardians while the Immortal tried to move him away from the buildings. A caption reported that part of downtown New York City was being evacuated.
Kai pushed his chair back.
The movement made July look up from her own desk.
He was already calculating how long it would take him to reach New York when Invincible tore through the clouds and struck the cyclops.
Kai stayed leaning forward.
Mark brought the creature down once.
Prevented him from striking another building.
Then brought him down again inside the park.
The broadcast showed the giant restrained and the first containment teams entering the area.
Kai stayed in that position for several more seconds.
Mark didn't need him.
He pulled the chair back in and reopened the report.
July watched his profile. Since the afternoon in the plaza, she had imagined different ways to explain the kiss, the person she still needed to confront, and why she had left without looking back.
For a moment, she considered speaking.
Kai had already returned to the numbers on the screen.
July didn't know that only seconds earlier, she had been looking at Infinity, almost ready to leave and help the Guardians.
She returned to her own work.
On the television, Invincible remained beside the giant while the world moved forward without waiting for either of them.
June 17, 2016 — PRZ Global Logistics — After Work
The distance between them hadn't disappeared.
Kai and July continued working side by side, sharing reports and quick remarks throughout the afternoon, but something always interrupted the conversation whenever it came too close to the plaza, the bus stop, or the kiss neither of them had mentioned.
It wasn't hostility.
Only a space that hadn't existed before.
That Friday, Kai finished the final report and began packing his things when July stopped beside his desk.
"Can you come upstairs with me?"
He looked at her.
"To the rooftop."
July didn't wait for an answer before heading toward the elevators.
Kai closed his backpack and followed.
The wind met them when they stepped onto the top of the building. The outdoor area was empty at that hour, the tables already put away while the lights of downtown Chicago began filling the surrounding windows.
July stopped near the glass barrier.
"I need to explain what happened."
Kai left his backpack on one of the chairs.
"You don't have to."
"I know. But I want to."
She kept her eyes on the city while organizing what she wanted to say.
"My parents and I aren't exactly speaking."
Kai stood beside her.
"I got into college. When I told them, they said they wouldn't help with anything. Tuition, housing, food... nothing."
"Why?"
"Because it isn't the university they chose. Or the degree they wanted."
July released a humorless laugh.
"I still don't know where I'm going to live when classes begin. Or how I'm going to pay for everything if they don't change their minds. Without Janet, I'd be completely lost... Parents are complicated."
Kai rested his arms against the barrier.
"I understand more than you might imagine."
July finally turned toward him.
"The complicated situation I mentioned before... it wasn't a normal relationship."
She searched his face for any reaction before continuing.
"He wasn't my boyfriend. He wasn't someone I was waiting to choose between you and him."
Kai didn't interrupt.
"He was someone tangled up in all those problems. In what was happening at home and the decisions I still hadn't made."
July clasped her hands in front of her body.
"I didn't want to start something with you while I was still dependent on a situation I needed to end."
Kai didn't respond.
"And I pulled away because I was afraid of dragging you into it, but I haven't stopped thinking about what happened between us that day."
Kai held her gaze.
July moved closer.
"That's why I brought you up here."
This time, Kai didn't make any movement.
She was the one who grabbed his shirt and rose slightly to reach him.
July's lips met his.
Kai remained still only for the first instant. He didn't advance, but he didn't pull away when she deepened the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck.
The city continued below them.
On any other night, Kai could have crossed it in seconds as Infinity. He could have heard emergencies from miles away, abandoned the building, and disappeared before July realized where he was looking.
There, he was only Kai after work.
His hands found her waist.
July moved back just far enough to rest her forehead against his, her arms still around his neck.
"With high school ending, I'm going to have to figure out the rest of my life."
"My classes are over too. Graduation is next week."
July smiled before continuing.
"And are you going willingly?"
"My mother will probably drag me there if necessary."
She remained pressed against him.
July looked at his lips before returning to his eyes.
"Do you want to come to my house?"
Kai didn't answer.
She continued with a smile.
"To celebrate the end of classes. And so I can properly apologize for the other day. No tacos this time."
His first reaction was to search for an escape.
Say he needed to return home. That he didn't know where this would lead. That her life still seemed too complicated and his own wouldn't even allow him to know which desires truly belonged to him.
It was always like this.
Whenever something began requiring him to stay, Kai found a reason to leave.
This time, he let the reason pass.
"I actually liked the taco that day."
July narrowed her eyes.
"I knew it! You finally admitted it."
"Doesn't mean I want another one."
"It's still progress. One victory at a time."
She kissed him once more before releasing his shoulders.
Downtown Chicago — A Short While Later
They left PRZ together and walked onto the sidewalk. July turned toward Kai without releasing his arm, one eyebrow raised.
"Do you like pizza?"
"That question has a lower chance of going wrong."
"Great."
She was already taking her phone from her purse.
"I'll order one to my house."
"Now?"
"If we order before getting a cab, we can try to beat it there."
Kai watched the screen as July selected the order.
"Suddenly, I feel like I'm back in middle school."
"Maybe, but now you finish reports for me instead of homework."
The taxi stopped beside the curb a few minutes later.
July opened the door and quickly climbed inside, motioning for Kai to hurry. When he sat beside her, she gave the driver the address and leaned forward.
"Can you go fast? We're racing a pizza."
The driver looked at them through the rearview mirror.
"You know it doesn't work like that, right?"
She pointed at Kai.
"He'll give you an extra twenty dollars if we arrive in time."
Kai turned quickly toward her, ready to object. But her spontaneity made him exhale and turn toward the window, trying to hide his smile.
July took his hand on the seat.
The taxi crossed downtown, took two congested avenues, and lost enough time at a traffic light for July to accuse the driver of giving up on the race. He replied that he didn't intend to lose his license over mozzarella.
Kai merely remained in the seat while July complained about traffic, laughed at her own accusations, and squeezed his hand whenever the car found an opening between the other vehicles.
When they arrived, the delivery driver still wasn't there.
July raised both arms.
"We won."
"What about my twenty dollars?" the voice came from inside the car.
Kai shook his head and nudged July.
"I remember him saying he wasn't part of the race."
She understood the opening.
"Something about not wanting to lose his license over mozzarella."
The driver cursed under his breath and sped away.
They laughed as they entered the house.
It wasn't a mansion, but almost everything inside appeared to have been chosen without concern for the price. The furniture was modern, the appliances new, and the surfaces remained far too organized for a place where people spent much time.
July left her purse on the couch.
"My parents enjoy buying things for the house. They just don't like being in it."
The doorbell rang before the conversation could continue.
July went to the door.
Soon afterward, they ate in the kitchen, using the large counter in the center of the room. July teased Kai about the way he separated the olives, and he accused the restaurant of trying to conceal bad ingredients beneath too much cheese.
She laughed more than the criticism deserved.
And they remained there.
After some time, Kai looked toward the dark hallway leading to the rest of the house.
"Your parents aren't going to come home and find us here alone?"
"Don't worry. I already told you. They're never home."
July folded the end of her slice.
"They travel for work. They used to at least pretend to organize their trips so someone would stay with me. Once I turned eighteen, that ended."
"And they left all of this here."
"Things are easier than people."
Kai didn't disagree.
The pizza was finished, but neither of them stood immediately.
July rested her chin on one hand.
"Are you happy you got into Upstate?"
"It doesn't matter much."
"What do you mean?"
Kai rotated his glass between his fingers.
"I was going to study medicine."
"You were?"
"That was the plan."
"And now?"
"Now it doesn't matter."
July searched his face for several seconds.
She realized that pressing him wouldn't change anything that night, so she changed the subject.
"How about we put this aside and watch something?"
July left the dishes in the sink and led Kai into the living room.
She chose a movie before he could examine the options, turned off some of the lights, and settled beside him on the couch.
For the first few minutes, they still followed the story.
July rested her head against his shoulder.
Kai left one arm behind her.
Soon afterward, she moved closer, folding her legs onto the couch and resting part of her body against his.
The movie continued playing when July raised her face.
"You're beautiful."
Kai's eyes shifted away from the screen.
"That was random."
"It wasn't. I've been thinking it for a while."
She touched one of the strands of hair near his forehead. Most of it had already returned to its dark color, with almost no white remaining between her fingers.
Kai watched her beneath the television's light.
Her straight, dark hair fell beyond her shoulders. Her blue eyes appeared even lighter from so close. Her pale skin contrasted with the dark fabric of her clothes, and her athletic body remained pressed against his without any attempt to hide her intentions.
July noticed how long he spent looking.
"See something you like?"
"Maybe."
"Do you use that answer for everything?"
"Only when I'm trying to stop someone from becoming too confident."
She smiled.
July leaned forward and kissed him.
The movie lost all importance.
Kai held the side of her face as she moved one leg over his and settled closer. The kiss began slowly, but the distance they had maintained for weeks disappeared quickly when July held the back of his neck.
She pulled away to catch her breath.
Her eyes remained on his.
July kissed him again, with less restraint.
Her hands moved down his shoulders, feeling the strength concealed beneath his shirt. Kai held her waist and drew her closer, without thinking about the office, the university, or what he would do when he left.
July let her lips pass along his jaw before speaking against his skin.
What began in the living room ended with her calling him.
"Come with me."
She stood and took his hand.
Kai allowed her to lead him up the stairs.
July passed her own bedroom and continued down the hallway.
"You don't sleep in there?"
"I do."
"Then why are we going the other way?"
She opened the door to her parents' bedroom.
The space was larger than the other rooms, with a wide bed, windows facing the illuminated part of the city, and an en suite bathroom occupying nearly the entire side wall.
July entered backward, still holding his hand.
"The bathroom has a hot tub."
Kai's gaze moved toward the bathroom.
"Your parents bought that and barely use it?"
"Someone's going to use it now."
July pulled him forward by his shirt.
The next kiss carried them into the bedroom.
The door closed behind them.
And for the first time in a long while, Kai felt as though he were making choices that were different from avoiding the entire world around him.
Maybe this time, it was truly him and not the Void.
They stayed there for hours before finally falling asleep.
July's House — 5:25 a.m.
They had only been asleep for a short time.
The bedroom remained dark, illuminated only by the bluish light beginning to pass through the windows. July slept close to Kai, part of her body resting against him while the sheets covered them both to the waist.
The nightmare began without form.
She ran through a place she didn't recognize. Voices surrounded her, but none came from a defined direction. Someone screamed her name. Another name appeared beneath it, repeated among images that vanished before she could reach them.
A car.
Lights.
The impact.
July woke with a sharp breath.
Her body rose from the bed, still caught between sleep and fear. Her hand searched for something beside her and instinctively closed around Kai's arm.
The contact triggered something inside her.
July's eyes lit up.
Her head was pulled backward, and her fingers tightened around his arm as her mind passed into what should have remained inaccessible.
The first memories came as fragments.
A life that didn't belong to that world.
Entire years compressed into seconds. A man with Kai's face, but older. Offices, empty nights, and repetitive days lived without any expectation that something might change.
The name passed through everything.
Death came immediately afterward.
A gunshot.
Pain.
Darkness.
Then a crib.
July tried to retreat.
She couldn't.
Kai's memories pulled her in one direction. Something inside him responded from another.
Her power showed her more than fragments of the past.
It showed her the Void...
And the Void revealed infinite possibilities all at once.
Possibilities opened upon possibilities, worlds appearing and disappearing before they could exist. The absence between them possessed weight.
The Void wasn't empty.
A pair of eyes opened within the darkness.
Kai's eyes.
Far too blue.
They stared back at her.
July saw infinity as he perceived it. Distances dividing themselves without ever reaching an end, every movement separated into thousands of trajectories, every instant containing more information than a human mind should ever endure.
Her body went rigid.
Her hand tightened around Kai's arm with enough force to deform the mattress beneath him.
Kai woke immediately.
Not because the pressure hurt him—it couldn't.
His body reacted to the unnatural strength in her grip. Strength no normal person could have produced.
He raised his head and found her eyes glowing, fixed on something that didn't exist inside the room. Tears were already running down her face, although she remained trapped in the vision.
"July!"
She didn't hear him.
Other fragments passed through her mind.
Nolan covered in blood.
The word pet, loaded with contempt.
Cosmic disappearing above Chicago.
A woman pointing at Kai while blaming him for a death that hadn't happened in that world. Then another woman blaming him in the same way for Cosmic's death.
Loneliness.
Anger.
The sensation of not knowing which thoughts belonged to him.
For one impossible instant, it felt as though the Void had noticed her.
The darkness seemed to turn toward July.
Kai grabbed her wrist.
"July! Wake up!"
Her fingers tightened even further.
He had to separate them by force. He restrained her hand, broke its contact with his arm, and pushed her away before the connection could deepen.
July returned all at once.
The glow disappeared from her eyes. Her body lost its rigidity, and she collapsed against Kai, dragging in air as though she had remained underwater for too long.
He caught her before her head struck the headboard.
July brought both hands to her face.
The tears continued coming.
She didn't understand what she had seen. The faces, the energy, or that vastness that still seemed to press against the back of her eyes.
But she had felt all of it.
The death.
The guilt.
And a loneliness so ancient that it didn't seem to have begun in that life.
Kai kept one hand on her shoulder.
"What happened?"
July slowly lowered her hands from her face.
She looked at him as though she were still trying to recognize which of the two men remained before her.
"Who is Damon?"
Kai froze.
A chill ran down his spine.
July breathed unevenly before managing to continue.
"And why does he look almost exactly like you?"
Every trace of expression disappeared from Kai's face.
"How do you know that name?"
Interlude — Dig two Graves
Meanwhile — Somewhere Else
The metallic walls made the place resemble a sealed GDA containment chamber, but that clearly wasn't possible.
Angstrom Levy walked across a platform connected to a containment sphere at the center of the room.
He had survived. At least, the version of him that had been receiving the others' memories had.
The explosion had deformed his head, leaving his skull swollen and covered in thick veins. Fresh scars crossed part of his face while small portals opened and disappeared around him.
In front of the platform, a containment machine occupied the center of the room.
Someone identical to Mark was restrained inside it.
The same face.
The same body.
But not the same uniform.
His eyes opened.
When he noticed the restraints around his arms and chest, he began struggling against the structure.
Angstrom watched without moving.
"They destroyed everything."
The prisoner strained against the restraints again.
Levy brought a hand to his deformed head.
"But I will have my revenge."