[KAISER – POV]
The clinic door didn't stand a chance—my boot connected with it like a battering ram from hell, stomping through the frame in an explosion of splintered wood and twisted metal. The air was thick with antiseptic burn, fresh blood, and that electric ozone crackle of raw power gone wild. Machines beeped erratically, lights flickering like the room itself was having a seizure. Molloy stood pressed against the wall, her face a mask of shock, gloves dripping red. A nurse cowered beside her, a tranq syringe shattered on the floor. And in the eye of the storm—Tara, the kid I'd yanked from that trafficking nightmare just a day ago, her tiny body arched in agony on the bed, convulsions ripping through her like lightning in a bottle.
"What the fuck is going on?" I roared, crossing the room. Tara's remaining eye was wild, her small hands clenching the sheets as another surge hit—a wave of force that hurled the nurse back, slamming her into a cabinet. Molloy snapped her gaze to me, voice cracking. "Kaiser—it's her trait awakening! Mythic-tier bullshit. Teleporting, resisting everything, nullifying sedatives, resurrection pulses... she just brought back a crushed bug! I can't get close—she's lashing out!"
Tara's body jerked, a low cry escaping—"It burns... make it stop..."—and the power exploded outward. She teleported in a flash, reappearing mid-air, landing with a thud that cracked the floor tiles. A dead fly twitched to life, buzzing weakly. Clara's voice blasted through my neuro rig. "Kaiser, her powers are mythic—teleportation, resistance, resurrection, nullification. I can suppress if you transfer me directly—rip out the rig, place it on her."
My eyes were on Tara—her small form glowing brighter, energy building like a bomb on the verge of detonation. She screamed, "Kaiser... help me!" and the sound hit like a gut punch—flashes exploding in my mind. Ellie... my sister, in that burning room, her voice desperate—"Kaiser! Help me! It hurts... don't leave me!" Too late, always too late. The memory clawed at me, Tara's cries echoing Ellie's. "Tchh..." I smirked, blade in hand. No more failures.
I pressed the tip to my forehead port. "Hang in there," I said to Tara, who teleported closer, her eye wide with fear. With a grunt, I sliced—pain igniting like a supernova, blood spraying as wires tore free. The rig came out in a gory mess, traits unraveling—chrono-skip evaporating, balances crumbling. I staggered but thrust the bloody device onto Tara's forehead. It sank in, Clara transferring. "Suppressing..." Everyone gasped—Molloy crying out, "Kaiser, no—what are you doing?"—as I collapsed, falling into Tara's arms, coma claiming me.
[TARA – POV]
Kaiser fell into my arms, blood from his head wound smearing my clothes, his body heavy and still. "Kaiser! No... why did you do that?" I sobbed, holding him tight as the power reacted to my panic. The clinic walls started to crack, reality warping around us as my mythic trait surged beyond control. "You're bleeding... all because of me... why would you hurt yourself like this?"
The energy exploded outward—the entire clinic shaking, walls bursting in a deafening roar, the roof caving in with debris and choking dust. But instead of falling, I rose, levitating us above the rubble as my body transformed. My hair shifted to flowing gold, shimmering like molten sunlight. My missing eye reformed, the socket filling with new tissue in a warm glow, and my severed leg regrew, flesh knitting together perfectly. I was whole—complete—for the first time.
But Kaiser lay limp in my arms, blood still seeping from where he'd torn out his neural rig. "Kaiser... wake up. Please, wake up. Why did you sacrifice for me?" I whispered, focusing the resurrection power on him, pulsing life gently. But it backfired—the energy seared his wound, making it bubble and bleed more, his body twitching in pain. "No! I'm sorry... I didn't mean to hurt you more!"
Clara's voice echoed in my head, calm but strained. "Tara, the resurrection is too powerful—you're overwhelming his system. I'm suppressing what I can, but your emotions are amplifying everything."
"I don't care! I have to save him!" I cried, trying again, but the pulse only made his breathing shallower. Rage and despair mixed, my powers lashing out—teleporting us in defensive arcs, resistance deflecting falling debris, nullification creating pockets of silence, resurrection animating rubble into protective barriers. "Kaiser, please... you're the only one who ever cared about me... don't leave me alone!"
[MOLLOY – POV]
I pulled myself from the rubble, cuts stinging from flying glass, watching in awe and terror as Tara levitated above the destroyed clinic. Her transformation was complete—golden hair cascading, body regenerated, eye and leg whole again—but her face was streaked with tears as she clutched Kaiser's unconscious form. The kid who'd been broken and dying an hour ago now commanded mythic power that had leveled an entire building.
"Tara!" I called out, voice hoarse from dust and emotion. "Let me help him! I'm a doctor—I can stabilize his condition!"
"No! Stay back—you'll take him away!" she screamed, teleporting higher, resistance forming a shimmering barrier that pushed away debris I tried to throw to get her attention. "He's mine... he did this for me!"
"Tara, listen—the resurrection power, you're using it wrong! It's hurting him more!" I shouted, climbing over a fallen beam. "Look at his wound—it's getting worse with each pulse!"
She tried again anyway, desperate, but I could see Kaiser's body convulse slightly, blood flowing fresh. "I know... but I have to try! Why won't it work?" she sobbed.
"Because this power isn't meant to be used in grief and panic!" I pleaded. "You need to be calm, controlled. Right now you're like a surgeon operating with a sledgehammer!"
"I can't be calm! He's dying because of me!" she wailed, nullification cutting off my next words momentarily. Her powers raged—resurrecting chunks of concrete into floating shields, teleportation keeping her just out of reach, resistance deflecting my attempts to get closer.
"Tara, he sacrificed himself because he loves you like family! Don't let that sacrifice be meaningless!" I called out, tears streaming. "Let me help save him—that's what he'd want!"
But she was too far gone in her rampage, protecting him fiercely while unknowingly making his condition worse with each desperate resurrection attempt.
[HAWK – POV]
Jerry and I arrived as the dust settled, taking in the impossible sight—a levitating girl with golden hair holding Kaiser's bloodied form above the ruins of what used to be Molloy's clinic. Jerry's face went white, and he dropped to his knees in the debris.
"Wha—what did you all do?" he choked out, voice breaking as tears streamed from his tin-aug eyes. "K... he's not... he can't be dead..."
"He's in a coma—not dead," I said, grabbing his shoulder, though my own heart was pounding. Tara was screaming above us, "Why are you doing it? Why did he hurt himself?" as she tried another resurrection pulse that clearly backfired, making Kaiser's body jerk.
"Tara, it's me—Hawk! We're here to help!" I shouted, but she teleported away defensively.
"Why... he did this for me?" she sobbed, golden hair whipping in the wind. "I'm not worth his blood!"
Jerry struggled to his feet, voice raw. "Kid... please, K's the only one i have. Let us help him!"
But she was beyond reason, the power making her paranoid and defensive. I had to try a different approach. "Tara, you remind him of his sister—Ellie. She died in when he was young, and he's carried that guilt ever since. That's why he cut out his rig for you—to save the sister he couldn't save before."
This made her pause, levitation faltering slightly. "His sister...? Why me? Why would he choose someone broken like me?"
"Because you're not broken to him—you're precious," I said, stepping closer carefully. "But right now, the resurrection power is hurting him. Every pulse makes his wound worse."
Her sobs intensified, powers starting to calm—teleportation slowing to gentle floats, nullification easing, resistance softening. Molloy climbed closer, adding, "Tara, let us help. Together we can save him."
"I'm scared... what if I hurt him more?" she whispered, finally lowering toward us, still clutching Kaiser protectively.
[KAISER – POV]
The coma was like drowning in black tar, but Tara's voice kept pulling me toward the surface. Her tears fell on my face, warm and desperate, as she whispered, "Please wake up... I need you... why did you have to bleed for me?"
Through the darkness, I could feel her trying the resurrection power again—gentle this time, but still wrong, like trying to restart a heart with lightning instead of steady compressions. The pain flared, but something else stirred too—a stubborn refusal to let go, the same drive that had kept me fighting in the zones for years.
Voices swirled around me—Hawk's calm reasoning, Jerry's broken pleas, Molloy's medical expertise, and above all, Tara's desperate love. The kid I'd saved just a day ago, now transformed into something mythic but still fundamentally that scared, hurt child who needed protection.
With tremendous effort, I managed to raise one finger, poking her tear-stained cheek weakly. My voice came out as barely a whisper, but I forced the words through the fog: "Not even the gods can kill me, my little star."
End of chapter.