Anthony rushed at Ron. With lightning reflexes, Ron caught his punch, twisted his arm, and struck Anthony's liver.
Anthony stumbled back. Suddenly, a storm rumbled in the distant sky. Rocky's arms were now surrounded by crackling arcs of pure lightning.
Ron leapt aside just as Rocky hurled the bolts toward William. But in the blink of an eye, the lightning veered back toward Rocky. He dodged just in time, wide-eyed with surprise.
From a distance, Ron noticed what had happened. The moment Rocky launched the second bolt, his position had swapped with William's.
"Your fight is with me," Anthony growled.
Ron silenced him with a powerful kick, sending Anthony flying across the road.
Carter had reached the base and sat in the car with his family, trying to find a safe place to stay.
As they drove through the empty streets, something caught Carter's eye—a familiar house.
Ron's house.
He hit the brakes. A strange pull tugged at his chest. Somehow, this place felt safer than the base.
"We'll stay here," Carter decided.
He opened the door using a small silver pin and gestured for his family to follow. They stepped inside carefully, Carter closing the door behind them.
He pressed the light switch.
The house lit up—silent, untouched, empty.
A memory washed over him.
The last time he stood here… Lia was with him. Dream had opened the door and welcomed them in.
Ron was on the floor back then, laughing as he played with his elder daughter. She had pinned him down, one foot on his chest, fist raised in triumph
.
"I win! I defeated Dad!" she had shouted.
Carter's mother noticed him standing still, frozen in the memory. She placed a hand on his shoulder and softly called his name, pulling him back to the present.
They all settled in the living room.
Carter's eyes caught a diary lying on the table. The words "The End" were written at the bottom of the cover. He dismissed it, assuming it was just some unfinished novel Ron had been reading.
Then a gust of wind slipped through the half-open window.
The diary flipped open on its own, pages rustling until it stopped on a random one.
Written in Ron's handwriting were the words:
"Can we win?
Is there any way to defeat that monster?"
Carter slowly sat down on the couch. His mind drifted back to the days when this house was full of laughter… full of life.
And then—something new.
A memory that didn't belong there flashed inside his head.
Blurry.
Unclear. A finger pressing ACCEPT on a glowing window.
The universe collapsed into a single line—pure white—and then snapped back.
Carter gasped.
He was in the present again.
Somewhere Else
The man in the black suit walked down the long, silent hallway.
At the end stood a massive door—tall enough for an SUV to drive through. A metal sign hung above it
ELITE CELLS
Beside the door, embedded into the wall, was a heavy iron lever.
The man gripped it and pulled down.
The door opened slowly, splitting apart like a giant metallic mouth. A thick white fog spilled out. Without hesitation, the man stepped inside.
Rows of doors lined both sides of the fog-filled corridor, with one larger door waiting at the end. He headed straight for it, descended a narrow staircase, and entered another hall.
This one had only a single cell at the far end.
Lasers. Cameras. Hidden traps.
Every inch of the corridor was designed for death.
The man pulled out a device shaped like a phone and tapped it several times. Instantly, the lasers flickered out, and the traps powered down.
He walked forward. Robotic guards—hulking metal giants—stood frozen in deactivated silence, clearly disabled by him moments earlier.
And then he reached the solitary prison cell.
Above the reinforced door was the prisoner's name
LOCKI
The man leaned toward the small viewing window—transparent from his side, pitch-black from within.
Locki sat strapped to a chair, bound by futuristic restraints that shouldn't have existed in this era.
This… this technology is beyond anything in security history, the man thought.
He entered a long password on the panel.
The locks disengaged, and the cell door slid open.
Light flooded the dark room, landing on Locki's face. His eyes opened slowly.
The moment felt strangely familiar.
In his fading consciousness, he heard a small girl's voice from the past
"Grandmother… it's a human boy. I don't know if he's alive or dead."
A faint smile tugged at his lips—before a cold metallic mask clamped around his head, leaving only his eyes exposed.
His blurry vision sharpened just enough to see the man in the black suit stepping inside.
"So, Locki… you had the key all along," the man said quietly.
Locki glared at him, eyes burning.
"Don't be angry," the man continued. "We're here to relocate you. And the next place… is far worse than this one. We'll make you go through hell until you tell us about the key. And then we'll kill you. Just like we killed them."
Locki's eyes turned to daggers. He fought against the restraints, trying to stand—trying to tear him apart—but his body wouldn't move.
The man clapped once.
The entire room shook. Panels folded. Metal rearranged. The cell transformed into the interior of a small aircraft.
The wall behind them rotated, revealing a launch tunnel that stretched outward like a runway.
"Go," the man ordered.
The aircraft surged forward. The tunnel opened, and the craft blasted out into the open sky.
The man in black took a seat beside Locki.
"Now," he said calmly, "our next destination is the Capital."