Chapter 26
A low, buzzing sound...well, a low buzzing sound buzzed in a dark room.
Ares groaned first, rubbing the side of his head as his eyes slowly adjusted to the dim lights above him. His back rested on the cold metal floor. A single table and four chairs sat in the middle of the room, and the walls were made of blackened panels, no windows, no vents, nothing that looked exactly friendly.
"Where… are we?" Rick whispered, sitting up with shaky hands.
"I know where we're NOT. This certainty isn't the infirmary…" Ares voiced.
Lightning flickered weakly around Nile's fingers as she stood immediately, her gaze sharp and hostile.
"What kind of room is this? We were at the library seconds ago."
Ares pushed himself to his feet and answered.
"Gravity guy knocked us out. You remember that much, right? Or is your memory as futile as your ability to stop me." Ares grinned.
"S-So… are we under arrest? Did we do something wrong?" Rick the nervous wreck asked.
"We didn't do anything," Kinsey muttered. "At least, I don't think I did. Did you?"
Before Ares could reply, a loud click echoed and a door slid open.
A man in black Oval Corp armor stepped inside and the room illuminated completely.
The man's uniform bore a red stripe over the shoulder, a Sergeant rank. He carried a clipboard under his arm and wore a straight expression, the kind that said he had no patience left for anyone in the room.
"Good, you're awake. All of you, sit."
Ares didn't like taking orders, but the gravity of the situation from earlier was enough to force him into a chair. Rick obeyed immediately. Kinsey followed. Nile took a moment, intentionally glaring at the officer before she sat last.
"Let's begin. First question, state your full names."
They all exchanged glances.
Rick, trembling slightly, answered first. "R-Rick… Rick Mobius."
"Ares Godson," Ares said with a shrug.
"Kinsey Key," she added quietly.
The sergeant turned to Nile.
She crossed her arms and answered.
"Nile, that's all you get."
The sergeant exhaled but let it slide. He flipped a page on the clipboard before continuing.
"Second question," he continued. "Explain your relationship with Axel Vaelon."
Rick went first again.
"Axel? He...he's my friend. We met on the way to the academy. He helped me… we kinda stuck together afterward."
"Next."
"Met him on the testing grounds." Ares answered
"Same," Kinsey said. "We all tested together."
"More like knocked your ass out of the ring." Ares said with a straight face.
Nile didn't wait for the signal, she just answered.
"I don't know him. I don't care who he is. And I want to know why I'm here."
"Well there's a reason all of you were brought in," he said quietly. "A serious one."
"What reason?"
"There is reason to believe that your friend—"
"He is not my friend," Nile snapped instantly. "And I couldn't care less who he is."
Ares almost rolled his eyes. Surprisingly, the officer didn't say anything to Nile's abrupt interruption. He continued.
"—that Axel Vaelon may be a member of REIN."
----
Eighty years ago, after the First War ended and the skies finally stopped burning, the world believed the worst was over. The Skavverns had been pushed back, the Algos had saved humanity from extinction, and the gene altering pathogen released into Earth's atmosphere had given rise to the first generation of mutants.
People called it salvation but not everyone agreed.
While nations celebrated their newfound strength, another group quietly rose from the ashes of the war, one that saw things differently. They believed the arrival of abilities was not a blessing, but a corruption.
This group eventually came to be known as REIN.
They weren't like the new ability users who awakened through the pathogen. REIN members claimed their power came from something called Spiritual Energy. A force they tapped into through rituals, meditation, and old world practices lost long before the alien arrival.
Their techniques weren't flashy. No elemental blasts. No telekinesis, no superhuman speed.
But their presence on the battlefield was undeniable.
During the early skirmishes with the remnants of the Skavvern forces, magic users stood shoulder to shoulder with soldiers, carving through alien units with frightening efficiency. Their methods made no logical sense, but the results were real.
They could stop Skavvern warriors in ways even powerful ability users struggled to match. Their contributions alone saved countless battalions.
For a short while, the world hailed them as heroes.
But then they spoke.
They claimed the pathogen released by the Algos was unnatural. That it tainted the Earth and it infected humanity with something that didn't belong.
According to REIN, abilities weren't just mutations, they were the beginning of a transformation. A transformation not meant to benefit humans… but to feed something else.
They insisted the Algos had not liberated humanity out of kindness. They hadn't arrived merely to "help." Their arrival had purpose.
They even had a theory that the Algos were using humans as cocoons.
Cocoons for something growing inside them.
Their message was simple:
"The abilities are a stain. A poison. Purge them, or watch the world die from within. We chose the former."
Most people dismissed REIN's warnings. Some called them fanatics. Others accused them of trying to divide humanity during its most vulnerable era. But no matter how often their claims were denied, REIN did not disappear.
Instead, they did what a cornered beast would do.
Within a decade, REIN became more than a group of spiritual warriors. They became ghosts inside the world. They infiltrated everything they could touch: small towns, academies, corporations, government offices, and eventually, even entire empires.
Students turned out to be sleeper agents. Officers in high positions vanished overnight only to reveal their loyalty to REIN. Some nobles in powerful empires were exposed as long term double agents.
To the public, REIN became a nightmare story. No one knew their faces. No one knew their leaders. They slipped into the world, and acted only when they believed humanity had crossed a line.
And over time, their warnings became threats.
They no longer stopped wars. Now, they targeted mutants.
And they did so with surgical precision.
Every decade, a handful of suspicious disappearances would circulate through academy rumor mills.
Talented students and dangerous students alike. People considered them "too strong for their age." Many assumed they ran away or died in training accidents.
But those who looked closely saw the pattern.
Whenever someone's abilities start to evolve past a certain threshold…
…REIN appeared.
By the present day, REIN had become a silent threat that neither the big empires nor the Oval Corp could completely root out. They operated where logic failed, and no amount of surveillance or military power could keep them away.
Their existence was a wound the world couldn't close.
And now… Axel Vaelon's name had appeared beside theirs.
No one knew the truth of that accusation yet, not even the officers interrogating.
But the mere possibility was enough to set alarms from the lowest district to the highest command.
Because REIN did not recruit ordinary people and Axel... well he wasn't exactly ordinary...
–
The room had fallen into heavy silence after the officer dropped the accusation.
Then Rick shook his head so fast his glasses nearly fell off.
"No… no, that's impossible," he said, gripping the edge of the table. "Axel? A terrorist? Sir, he didn't even have an ability yesterday. It was unawakened, remember? He couldn't be REIN. That doesn't make any sense."
His voice cracked halfway through, and he didn't care. Shock had wiped the fear right out of him.
Before the officer could respond, Kinsey folded her arms.
"Let me make something clear," she said sharply. "I am NOT affiliated with him at all. We're not friends. We barely spoke during the trials."
"But you got ass kicked…" Ares murmured, earning sharp glances from the officer, Kinsey and even Rick.
Then the officer raised a brow at Kinsey and asked,
"But you know something?"
Kinsey hesitated, only for a second, then she sighed.
"Last night at the gym," she admitted. "I saw him. And he… used something. An ability I've never seen before." Her brows furrowed in thought. "It was fast. It wasn't lightning or heat or kinetic force. I don't even know what to call it."
'Wait what?! She was there? She saw him? Damnit Axel!" Ares panicked internally.
"A–Axel? No, you must've seen wrong—" Rick tried to defend but Kinsey interrupted.
"I know what I saw."
Across the room, Ares sat back in his chair, arms folded. He didn't confirm or deny anything. He didn't even look surprised. He just stared at the table and the officer noticed.
"You," he said, fixing his gaze on Ares. "You didn't react."
Ares slowly lifted his eyes.
"Nothing to say here," he answered. "Axel handles himself well. Ability or no ability and I'm not throwing him under anything just because you want a convenient name."
Rick looked relieved. Kinsey looked confused. The officer looked annoyed.
Then Nile exhaled loudly and leaned back in her chair, arms crossed like she had been waiting for them to finish their nonsense.
"Great," she said flatly. "Now that you've ID'd your terrorist, can I go? I don't even know this guy. I don't care who he is. He's not my friend. Never was."
Rick turned to her quickly. "Nile, seriously? He's harmless."
She rolled her eyes, unimpressed. "So is a bomb before someone lights the fuse."
"Nile—"
The officer lifted a hand, silencing them.
"I understand your reactions," he said calmly. "But whether you believe it or not, we have evidence that Axel Vaelon may have connections to RE—"
Before he finished his sentence, the lights in the room flickered..
Then every alarm in the facility exploded at once with red lights spinning and sirens screeching.
BEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEP
Everyone jolted to their feet except the officer, who stiffened in place.
An urgent knock hit the door and a young corporal rushed inside, breathless.
"Sir! We have a breach."
"What happened?"
"The REIN agent... he's escaped."