The machine entered Phase Two.
The chamber shook violently.
Energy surged through the extraction cables as the scanners surrounding Luce's head began rotating faster.
Every monitor in the room erupted with warning signals.
ALERT — NEURAL OVERLOAD DETECTED
Vale watched the screens with breathless excitement.
"Magnificent…"
The readings were climbing faster than anything the system had recorded before.
The technopathy signal was no longer stable.
It was exploding.
LucePain ripped through Luce's skull.
But it wasn't just pain anymore.
It was noise.
Every machine in the facility screamed inside his head.
Security systems.
Elevators.
Weapons.
Power grids.
Thousands of signals crashing together inside his mind like an ocean during a storm.
His eyes began glowing faintly.
Electric arcs crawled across the platform restraints.
Luce's voice came out strained.
"…stop…"
Vale leaned closer.
"Yes."
"Yes, that's it."
"Let the anger grow."
Across the room, Hailey struggled to stand.
Her face was pale.
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
"Luce…"
Her voice was weak.
"Don't listen to him…"
But Luce barely heard her.
His vision was blurring.
Everything was red.
The machines around him suddenly sparked violently.
The restraints holding him down shattered.
BOOOM.
Energy exploded outward from the platform.
The entire chamber trembled.
ChaosThe shockwave blasted everyone backward.
Scientists crashed into consoles.
Sparks rained from the ceiling.
Eddy teleported instinctively.
POP.
He grabbed Hailey just before she hit the floor.
"You good?!"
Hailey coughed violently.
"…seen better days."
Joren stepped forward.
"Luce!"
But Luce wasn't looking at them.
His eyes glowed brighter.
The machines around the chamber began activating.
Turrets.
Defense drones.
Energy barriers.
Everything.
The entire facility was suddenly under his control.
But he wasn't controlling it.
He was losing it.
Luce raised his hand.
A console exploded.
Another machine fired wildly.
Jackie barely dodged a burst of plasma.
"Okay!"
She shouted.
"He's not on our side right now!"
Jay pulled two scientists out of the way as sparks rained down.
"Kid just hijacked the entire building!"
Kayden stared at the monitors.
"No…"
His voice dropped.
"He didn't hijack it."
Kayden looked toward Luce.
"…the system hijacked him."
Joren vs ValeJoren didn't hesitate.
He charged forward.
His fist tightened.
Density surged through his arm.
He swung straight at Vale's head.
The punch could have shattered concrete.
But—
Vale caught it.
Effortlessly.
The entire room froze.
Joren's eyes widened.
Vale's hand gripped his fist like it weighed nothing.
His smile returned.
"Impressive."
He twisted slightly.
And threw Joren across the chamber.
Joren crashed through a metal console.
Kayden's eyes narrowed.
"That's impossible…"
Vale flexed his hand calmly.
"Not impossible."
His voice was almost conversational.
"Just… upgraded."
He stepped forward slowly.
"You see, Kayden…"
He tapped his own chest.
"I didn't start this experiment with Luce."
Vale raised his hand.
Energy flickered across his fingers.
"Over the years…"
"…I've absorbed a few powers already."
Jackie muttered under her breath.
"…Fantastic."
Vale continued.
"Strength."
"Regeneration."
"A touch of kinetic control."
He smiled.
"But not enough."
His eyes shifted toward Luce.
"Not nearly enough to conquer nations."
The machines around the chamber trembled again.
Vale whispered:
"That's why I need him."
EddyEddy watched Luce tear apart the chamber with uncontrolled power.
He stayed surprisingly calm.
Then he looked at Jay.
"Jay."
Jay ducked as a drone exploded behind him.
"What?!"
Eddy grabbed his shoulder.
"We're not fixing this fight right now."
Jay frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
Eddy pointed toward the facility corridors.
"There are hundreds of kids in this place."
Jay's expression hardened.
"…Right."
Eddy nodded.
"Go."
Jay didn't hesitate.
He grabbed a fallen rifle and ran toward the exit.
"Kayden!"
Kayden fired another blast at a drone.
"Yeah?!"
"Get the kids out!"
Kayden nodded.
"On it!"
DannyNear the far wall of the chamber—
Danny stood frozen.
The chaos around him felt unreal.
Machines exploding.
Soldiers firing.
Luce losing control.
Vale laughing.
But Danny only saw one thing.
Hailey.
She was barely standing.
Bruised.
Blood on her face.
Trying to protect Luce even now.
"Luce…"
She whispered weakly.
Danny's chest tightened.
His dragon plush slipped from his hands.
It landed softly on the floor.
His vision blurred.
Memories flooded his mind.
The burning building.
The screaming.
The masked man.
The nightmare.
Playback.
His voice echoed inside Danny's head.
"Remember."
Danny's hands trembled.
"I… can't…"
Then Hailey collapsed to one knee.
Danny's fear snapped.
Something inside his mind broke open.
The air around him rippled.
Invisible energy surged outward.
Jay stopped in the doorway.
"What the—"
Danny's eyes glowed faint violet.
The air around him twisted.
Then—
A creature formed beside him.
A massive psionic wolf made entirely of shimmering purple energy.
Its eyes burned like stars.
The wolf growled.
Danny stared at it in shock.
"…what?"
The creature looked at him.
Waiting.
Another shape began forming behind him.
A second creature.
Then a third.
Kayden whispered under his breath.
"…psionic constructs."
Joren slowly stood up.
Blood on his lip.
But a grin forming.
"Kid just leveled up."
Danny looked toward Vale.
Toward Luce.
Toward Hailey.
His voice trembled.
"…help them."
The wolf roared.
And launched forward.
Straight toward Vale.
ValeVale's smile widened.
"Oh."
Now he looked truly excited.
"A new ability."
The psionic wolf slammed into him.
The impact blasted him across the chamber.
Vale crashed through a metal pillar.
Dust exploded into the air.
Jackie blinked.
"…okay that was awesome."
But the machines around them were still going berserk.
And Luce was still losing control.
Standing at the center of it all.
The storm of power growing stronger.
Because if no one stopped him soon—
The entire facility was going to collapse.
With everyone inside.
The chamber was falling apart.
Machines sparked violently.
Energy cables whipped across the floor like living snakes.
Defense drones spun out of control, firing wildly into the walls as Luce's technopathy surged through the entire facility.
At the center of the chaos—
Luce stood trembling.
Electric arcs crawled across his arms.
His eyes glowed with unstable light.
The entire network of Joltic City screamed inside his mind.
Too many signals.
Too much noise.
Too much anger.
Another console exploded beside him.
Jackie flipped over a railing to avoid the blast.
"HEY!"
She shouted.
"Someone turn the kid OFF!"
Kayden grabbed a nearby support beam as the ceiling shook.
"I can't!"
He shouted back.
"The system is feeding off him!"
Across the chamber—
Vale rose slowly from the rubble Danny's psionic wolf had slammed him into.
Dust fell from his coat.
He looked almost amused.
"Magnificent…"
His eyes drifted toward Luce.
"Yes… let the power grow."
But someone else was moving.
Slowly.
Unsteadily.
Hailey.
HaileyHer legs shook as she stood.
The electricity from the cuffs had left burns along her wrists.
Blood stained her sleeve.
But she ignored it.
Her eyes were only on Luce.
"Luce."
He didn't respond.
Another machine detonated behind him.
Hailey took another step forward.
"Luce."
Still nothing.
The energy around him surged again.
The floor cracked beneath his feet.
Joren noticed immediately.
"Hailey!"
He started toward her.
But she raised a hand weakly.
"Don't."
Her voice was quiet.
"I've got him."
Joren froze.
Because he trusted her.
LuceInside Luce's mind—
The world was collapsing.
Signals screamed through his head.
Machines.
Networks.
Data streams.
The entire facility had become a hurricane of noise.
He couldn't stop it.
He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't think.
Somewhere inside the storm—
He heard a voice.
"Hey."
Soft.
Familiar.
But he couldn't find it.
Another explosion shook the chamber.
More machines activated.
The storm inside his head grew louder.
Then the voice came again.
"Luce."
HaileyShe stopped just a few steps away from him.
The air around Luce hummed with dangerous energy.
Even standing this close hurt.
But she didn't move back.
Instead she spoke gently.
"Wow."
She looked around at the destruction.
"You really went all out this time."
A broken drone crashed nearby.
Hailey tilted her head.
"You remember the first time Kayden let you near the Sanctuary control room?"
The machines flickered slightly.
"You short-circuited the entire training court."
Across the chamber, Jackie shouted:
"HEY THAT WAS HIM?!"
Hailey ignored her.
"You fried every single practice drone."
She smirked faintly.
"And then you tried to pretend it wasn't your fault."
The storm inside Luce's mind hesitated.
Memory echoesThe Sanctuary training court.
Kids running across the floor.
Practice drones hovering overhead.
Luce standing beside a control panel.
Kayden explaining something.
Eddy leaning against the railing.
"Careful genius, don't break the—"
SPARK.
All the drones drop out of the air.
Danny staring wide-eyed.
"Whoa…"
Hailey laughing so hard she nearly falls over.
"You broke the whole system!"
Luce groaning.
"I didn't mean to!"
The memory flickered.
Then the storm roared again.
Machines exploded around the chamber.
Hailey steps closer"Hey."
Her voice was firmer now.
"You don't get to check out on us."
Another drone crashed into the wall behind her.
She didn't even flinch.
"You're the one who helped Danny fix his holographic dragon after it broke."
Danny looked up from behind his psionic wolf.
"…you did?"
Hailey continued.
"You stayed up all night fixing the projector so he wouldn't cry."
Danny blinked.
"I thought Jay fixed that."
Hailey shook her head.
"Nope."
She pointed at Luce.
"Your tech genius brother did."
The storm inside Luce trembled.
Another memoryThe Sanctuary courtyard.
Danny holding a broken holographic dragon toy.
"It stopped working…"
Luce kneeling beside it with a toolkit.
Eddy eating snacks nearby.
"Bro it's a toy."
Danny sniffing.
"It's my dragon."
Hailey crossing her arms.
"You're fixing it."
Luce sighing.
"…fine."
Hours later.
The dragon lights up again.
Danny cheering.
"IT WORKS!"
The storm inside Luce's mind weakened.
HaileyShe finally stepped directly in front of him.
Now the energy was ripping through the air around her.
But she didn't move.
She looked straight at him.
"Luce."
His glowing eyes flickered toward her.
For the first time—
He saw her.
Hailey smiled softly.
"You're my brother, idiot."
Her voice cracked slightly.
"And I'm not letting you destroy a city just because you're having a bad day."
The machines around them flickered.
The storm inside his mind faltered.
LuceThe noise was still there.
But the voice was louder now.
Hailey.
The one who trained with him.
Who dragged him into Sanctuary chores.
Who yelled at him when he skipped meals.
The one who always treated him like family.
His voice came out broken.
"…Hailey?"
The machines around the chamber slowed.
The alarms quieted.
Kayden whispered under his breath.
"It's working."
ValeVale watched the scene carefully.
His excitement dimmed slightly.
"How disappointing."
He stepped forward.
"No."
His voice was colder now.
"This experiment is not finished."
He raised his hand.
Energy gathered in his palm.
"Enough sentimentality."
He aimed the blast directly at Hailey.
But before he could fire—
Danny's psionic wolf lunged.
The creature slammed into Vale again.
Vale staggered back.
Danny stood trembling nearby.
But now there were three psionic beasts surrounding him.
The wolf.
A massive psionic hawk circling above.
And a towering spectral bear forming behind him.
Kayden whispered under his breath.
"… more psionic constructs."
Joren slowly stood up.
Blood on his lip.
But a grin forming.
"Kid just leveled up again."
Danny's voice trembled.
"…leave them alone."
Vale stared at the constructs.
Then smiled slowly.
"Oh."
"This city just keeps getting more interesting."
LuceThe storm inside his mind finally began to quiet.
The machines stopped screaming.
The network dimmed.
His glowing eyes faded slowly.
He looked at Hailey.
"…I almost hurt you."
Hailey wiped blood from her lip.
"Yeah."
She shrugged weakly.
"But you didn't."
Luce exhaled shakily.
Behind them—
Joren cracked his knuckles.
"Alright."
His eyes locked on Vale.
"Now that family therapy is over."
Vale stepped forward.
Energy swirling around him.
"Excellent."
His smile returned.
"Because now…"
"…we can finish this."
The chamber shook again.
A deep metallic groan echoed through the facility as the walls trembled under the strain of Luce's technopathy.
Cracks spread across the ceiling.
Sparks rained down like burning snow.
Kayden looked up immediately.
"That's not good."
Jay, halfway through escorting a group of freed kids toward the exit tunnels, shouted back:
"The entire facility is destabilizing!"
Eddy shrugged.
"Good."
He cracked his neck.
"Let it fall."
Vale
Arcturus Vale stepped forward slowly.
His coat fluttered slightly in the wind created by the collapsing systems around them.
The psionic wolf circled him cautiously.
Danny stood behind it, trembling but determined.
Vale examined the creature with quiet fascination.
"Psionic manifestations."
His eyes gleamed.
"How remarkable."
He flexed his hand.
Energy rippled across his arm.
"You see, children…"
He looked around the room calmly.
"You think this is chaos."
He raised his hand.
A shockwave blasted outward, throwing the psionic wolf backwards across the chamber.
"This is only the beginning."
Joren
Joren charged.
He crossed the chamber in three steps.
His fist came down like a hammer.
Vale caught it again.
But this time—
Joren pushed harder.
The floor cracked beneath their feet.
Vale's smile faded slightly.
"Ah."
"Determination."
Joren gritted his teeth.
"Let them go."
Vale tilted his head.
"No."
Then he kicked.
The impact blasted Joren across the chamber into a metal pillar.
But Joren stood up again almost immediately.
Blood on his lip.
Still smiling.
"Good."
He cracked his neck.
"Now we're actually fighting."
The Facility Breaks
Alarms screamed throughout the building.
STRUCTURAL FAILURE DETECTED
Kayden looked at the monitors.
"The power core is overloading."
Luce blinked.
"…what?"
Kayden looked at him seriously.
"When you hijacked the system…"
He pointed upward.
"You pushed the entire facility past its limits."
Eddy shrugged.
"Worth it."
New Fighters Arrive
Suddenly—
The far chamber doors burst open.
Metal bars flew across the floor.
A group of kids rushed inside.
Some injured.
Some scared.
But two of them stepped forward.
Calm.
Confident.
The first was a girl with short silver hair.
She raised her hand.
The air around Vale suddenly grew heavier.
Gravity increased instantly.
Vale's feet cracked the floor.
He frowned.
"Oh?"
The boy smirked.
"Yeah."
"Not just you."
She looked toward Luce.
"About time we got out of those cells."
Luce blinked.
"…Cal?"
he waved casually.
"Miss me?"
Beside him—
A tall girl stretched his arms.
Then suddenly vanished.
A blur of motion crossed the chamber.
She appeared beside Hailey.
"Whoa."
He looked at the chaos around them.
"You guys really know how to start a party."
Hailey blinked.
"…Mira?"
The girl grinned.
"Yep."
She pointed toward Vale.
" Y'all have no idea how long I have been waiting to punch this guy."
Introductions
Cal stepped forward, gravity fields swirling faintly around him.
He pointed at Vale.
"Name's Cal"
He jerked her thumb toward Luce.
"Met your tech wizard friend in the prison block."
Kaito stretched his neck.
"Mira."
She pointed toward Hailey.
"She saved my life earlier."
Hailey smirked.
"Well."
"Guess that makes us even."
Danny
Danny stared at the newcomers.
Then looked at his psionic wolf.
The creature growled again.
Danny took a deep breath.
"…okay."
More energy surged from his mind.
The spectral bear behind him grew larger.
The hawk above them screeched.
Danny looked at Vale.
"…I think I can help now."
Vale vs Everyone
Vale laughed softly.
Then louder.
Then louder.
The sound echoed through the collapsing chamber.
"Wonderful."
His eyes shone with excitement.
"More powers."
"More variables."
"More evolution."
Energy exploded from his body.
The gravity field shattered.
The psionic wolf was blasted backwards.
Kaito barely dodged the shockwave.
Vale stepped forward.
And for the first time—
He looked truly dangerous.
"Come then."
His voice dropped.
"Show me everything you've got."
The Team
Kayden stepped beside Joren.
Jay returned from the evacuation corridor.
Jackie dropped from the ceiling vents again.
Eddy cracked his knuckles.
Cal raised her hand.
Mira vanished in a blur.
Danny's psionic beasts circled the battlefield.
Luce steadied himself beside Hailey.
Hailey wiped blood from her lip.
She smiled faintly.
"Alright."
She looked at the team.
"Let's take down a supervillain."
Joren stepped forward.
His voice was calm.
Cold.
"Together."
Vale
Vale spread his arms.
Energy swirling violently around him.
His smile returned.
"Yes."
"Now this…"
"…is a proper experiment."
And the entire chamber exploded into battle.