The inside of the Sigma transport felt nothing like a car.
It felt like a moving laboratory.
Cold blue lights ran along the ceiling. Thin digital screens flickered with data Kairo didn't understand — scans, waveforms, electrical readings that pulsed in sync with his heartbeat.
Agent Aric Vanton sat beside him, arms crossed, broad shoulders blocking any chance of escape. Across from them, Agent Lira Hensley monitored a holographic panel connected to a slender metal band strapped to Kairo's wrist.
Every time he exhaled, the device glowed faintly — reading him. Studying him.
Tracking him.
Kairo swallowed hard.
"Is this… supposed to be on me?" he asked.
Agent Hensley didn't look up.
"It's a stabilizer cuff," she said gently. "It monitors your electrical output and prevents accidental surges."
"What if I… lose control?" "Then it alerts us," Agent Vanton said bluntly. "Before you blow half the city off the map again."
Kairo flinched.
Agent Hensley shot Vanton a glare.
"Commander, he's a kid, not a weapon."
Vanton didn't reply.
Rain hammered the roof of the transport, but inside, everything felt too quiet — too tight — like the walls were holding their breath alongside him.
Kairo pressed his hands between his knees, trying to keep them from shaking.
"I didn't mean to do anything," he whispered. "The lightning… it just happened."
Agent Hensley's voice softened.
"That's exactly why we need to help you."
Vanton spoke again, his voice low but not unkind — more like a soldier stating a fact.
"Uncontrolled energy kills. And you're carrying enough voltage to fry a building without even trying."
Kairo felt sick.
"Then why am I alive?" he asked.
Hensley and Vanton exchanged a silent look — a look that said they knew more than they would admit.
"We'll explain when we get there," Hensley said.
But her eyes betrayed something else.
Fear. And curiosity.
As if Kairo was something impossible.
Arrival at Sigma Headquarters
The transport descended an underground ramp beneath what looked like an abandoned warehouse in the industrial district. Rust-colored walls, broken windows, a half-collapsed roof… nothing suspicious at all.
But as soon as the vehicle crossed a yellow barrier, the illusion flickered — the building dissolved like pixels melting away.
In its place rose a massive structure of black glass and silver steel, humming with power.
Sigma Containment Headquarters — Lumea Sector
Kairo stared, mouth slightly open.
"This was hidden?"
"Phase masking," Hensley replied. "Only Sigma tech can see through it."
The vehicle slid into a glowing docking platform. The moment the doors opened, white-armored Sigma guards lined up, armed with shock-staves and magnetic rifles.
All eyes were on him.
Kairo felt like a bug pinned to a board.
Agent Vanton stepped out first.
"Stand down. He's not hostile."
"Not yet," one guard muttered.
Vanton shot him a look that could cut steel.
Hensley motioned Kairo forward.
"Stay close. Sigma is… protective around new cases." Protective.
That was a polite word for scared.
Director Seraphine Voss
They led him into a vast chamber filled with floating holograms, data streams, and tech that looked decades ahead of anything the public had.
At the center stood a woman with short silver hair and icy blue eyes. Her presence filled the room — calm, powerful, commanding.
She turned as they approached.
Director Seraphine Voss, Head of the Sigma Containment Initiative
Lumea Sector Commander
Her gaze fell instantly on Kairo — sharp, analyzing, almost clinical.
But there was something else beneath it.
Recognition.
"Kairo Dune," she said. "You caused quite a storm."
Kairo swallowed. "I… didn't mean to."
"No one ever means to," she replied. "But intent doesn't change the outcome."
Agent Hensley stepped forward.
"Director, the readings are unlike anything we've recorded. His energy signature is—"
"Unstable," Voss finished. "I know."
She circled Kairo slowly, as if examining a rare artifact.
"You survived an electrical surge that should have vaporized you," she said. "Not only that — you absorbed it. And your body is generating more."
"My body feels like it's humming," Kairo admitted. "Like something's trying to get out." "That's because it is," Voss said bluntly. A shiver ran down his spine.
Agent Vanton crossed his arms.
"We need him in Level Three containment until proper evaluation."
"No," Voss said sharply. "He's not an enemy. Not yet."
She turned to Kairo.
"You need control, not a cage. And Sig-Tech training is the only safe path forward."
Kairo looked between them, terrified and confused.
"I don't understand what's happening to me."
Voss looked him directly in the eyes.
"Then listen carefully," she said.
"Lightning didn't give you power."
She paused, letting the words sink in.
"It awakened something that was already inside you."
Kairo felt his breath catch. Inside?
Always there?
Before he could respond, alarms blared.
A guard sprinted into the room.
"Director Voss! The sensors detected another energy surge in the East Sector — same signature as the boy's storm!"
Voss's expression sharpened.
She looked slowly at Kairo.
"Kairo," she said, voice low. "Someone else out there has power like yours."
Kairo's heart slammed. No.
Not someone else. Something else.