Back to Upstate — 9:52 PM
Night had completely changed the campus.
The same place that, during the afternoon, had seemed wide, bright, and full of students pretending at normality now glowed beneath streetlights, lit windows, and colored lights spilling from a fraternity house a few blocks ahead. The music was already audible before they even got close, beating against the cold air like a heart too large, muffled by the walls and the laughter of people coming and going through the front door.
Kai was leaning against the side of the visitor housing with his hands in his pockets, looking at the house from a distance as if assessing a crime in progress.
Mark paced in short circles near him, checking his phone every fifteen seconds. He tried to look calm. Failed every time.
Eve came walking across the grass. She wore normal clothes now, a simple jacket over her shirt, her hair loose, her expression less heavy than it had been a few hours earlier.
Her gaze moved over the two of them.
"Where are the others?"
Mark finally put his phone away.
"William went looking for Rick. He said we should meet them there." His hand went to the back of his neck, and his eyes shifted toward the side of the building. "And Amber wasn't with you?"
Eve came closer, studying his face for a second.
"She was. She was going to finish getting ready and meet us there."
Mark nodded, but the movement came short. The kind of gesture from someone trying to accept an answer without looking like he needed another one.
Eve closed the distance between them.
"I talked to her, Mark." Her voice came low. "It's going to be okay. She just wanted some time alone."
Mark looked at her.
The relief did not arrive whole, but it passed over his face in a visible line. His shoulders lowered a little. The corner of his mouth tried to rise.
"Thanks."
He shook his head, a weak half-smile appearing.
Kai pushed away from the wall and lifted his arms, stretching as if the conversation had already fulfilled the night's social usefulness.
"Well, since everything's settled, I think I'll stay here."
Mark turned at once.
"Come on, man. We're just stopping by." He pointed his chin toward the distant house, where the music seemed to grow louder by the second. "We stay for a bit, wait for William and Rick to show up, then come back. Just until I fix things with Amber."
Kai looked at the party.
Then at Mark.
Then at Eve, who looked far too neutral to be helpful.
His expression gave in, somewhere between reluctance and resignation.
"Fine. Whatever."
Mark smiled as if he had won a small battle, and that only made Kai regret it faster.
The fraternity house seemed to vibrate from the inside.
The porch was crowded. Some people sat on the steps with red cups in hand, others laughed near the columns, others tried to talk over the music and failed with enthusiasm. Inside, the air was hot, dense, mixed with cheap perfume, sweat, spilled beer, and something far too sweet coming from an improvised drinks table.
Kai entered behind Mark and Eve, his eyes sweeping over the place as if searching for exits before even accepting that he was there.
It did not last a minute.
Amber appeared through the side entrance of the room, making her way between two groups of students. She wore a light jacket and her face was calmer than before, though her eyes still carried a distance Mark noticed immediately.
The two stood face to face in the middle of the noise.
For an instant, no one around them mattered.
Amber crossed her arms, but the gesture did not come armed the way it had before. Mark ran a hand through his hair, his mouth opening and closing without finding a good sentence.
Then she tilted her head toward a less crowded corner.
Mark nodded.
The two walked away together.
Kai and Eve stayed at the edge of the room, watching the scene for a few seconds.
"At least she didn't throw anything at him," Kai commented.
Eve glanced sideways.
"Was that a possibility?"
"Who knows."
Before Eve could answer, two students appeared near her with cups in their hands and smiles that announced bad intentions before the first word.
One of them leaned in to be heard over the music.
"Hey, did you come with someone?"
Kai did not even wait for the answer.
He turned and walked away.
Eve shot a quick look at his back, half incredulous, half offended by the blatant escape.
Kai crossed the room, dodging people, shoulders, almost-spilled cups, and someone trying to dance in the middle of the way with questionable coordination. He reached the kitchen like someone finding a minimally breathable spot inside a disaster area.
The kitchen was crowded, but less chaotic.
There were bottles on the counter, red cups stacked near the sink, half-open bags of ice, and students mixing drinks with the dangerous confidence of people measuring nothing. One guy left a bottle of energy drink on the counter while laughing at something someone else said.
Kai observed the label for half a second.
Picked up the bottle.
Filled a large cup with ice, poured the energy drink over it, and leaned against the counter facing the living room, as if he had found the only acceptable use for that environment.
From where he stood, he could see Mark and Amber sitting on a distant sofa, leaning toward each other to talk over the music. Amber still seemed serious, but not closed off. Mark spoke carefully, his hands moving little, his face vulnerable in a way that did not match a uniform or punches.
Kai brought the cup to his mouth.
The taste was far too sweet.
Better than the smell of the party.
Eve appeared beside him a few minutes later, resting her elbows on the counter. She said nothing at first. Just followed his gaze to the sofa.
Mark and Amber were closer now.
Amber said something.
Mark answered.
She looked down for a second, then back at him.
And then, finally, everything seemed to resolve itself when they kissed.
Kai took another sip of the energy drink.
"Looks like everything ended well." He lowered the cup. "I guess that's my cue."
When he turned his face, he saw Eve still looking toward the sofa.
There was no surprise on her face.
No open sadness.
Only a discreet, quick discomfort, caught in the curve of her mouth and in the way her fingers tightened on the edge of the counter for an instant before relaxing.
Kai said nothing.
Predictable.
And despite everything, a little sad, almost pitiful.
Before Kai could leave, three girls entered the kitchen like a small storm.
One of them was clearly drunk, holding an almost empty cup and laughing to herself at something no one had said. The second held her by the arm, preventing her from bumping into a stack of cups. The third came in right behind them, her eyes fixed on Kai with attention far too direct to be accidental.
The one keeping the drunk friend upright smiled first.
"Hi. I'm Emma." She pointed to the girl leaning on her. "This is Madison."
Madison raised her cup as if toasting the ceiling.
"Hi."
Then Emma pointed to the third girl, who was still staring at Kai without hiding it.
"And this is Emily."
Kai turned his face just enough to acknowledge the existence of all three.
"Hi?"
Eve lowered her gaze to her nonexistent cup, holding back a laugh before it escaped too soon.
Emily came a little closer, completely ignoring Kai's tone.
"Are you from here?"
"Fortunately, no."
Emma laughed, perhaps thinking it was a joke.
"Visiting?"
"I was socially kidnapped."
Madison widened her eyes, drunk enough to consider the sentence seriously.
"That's a crime."
"I'm dealing with it internally."
Eve turned her face to the side.
This time, the laugh escaped through her nose.
Emily kept staring at Kai's shoulders with not-so-subtle interest.
"Do you work out?"
Kai looked at her.
Then at his own arm.
"No."
She smiled, as if he were being modest.
"Oh, come on. You're strong."
"It's an illusion. It's mostly water retention, really."
Emily blinked.
"What?"
Emma laughed again. So did Madison, a little late, without seeming to understand. Eve covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes shining with amusement.
Madison, perhaps drawn by the color of the cup, reached for Kai's drink.
He followed the movement.
Did not stop her.
She took the cup with both hands and downed the entire thing in one gulp.
Kai watched the cup become empty.
Madison lowered her arm, surprised.
"Wow. This is really strong!" She looked at the cup as if she had found a spiritual revelation. "What drink is this?"
"It was a special drink I made," Kai said, staring at the empty cup. "Tragic."
Emily lightly touched his arm.
"Come dance with us."
Kai looked at the hand on his arm.
Then at her face.
"Sure." The answer came far too smooth to be sincere. "Go ahead. I'll make another one of those drinks and catch up with you."
Emma pulled Madison away before she could try to steal anything else.
Emily smiled at Kai, satisfied with the victory, and left with the two of them.
As soon as they disappeared down the hallway, Kai pushed away from the counter.
Eve turned to him.
"I didn't picture you drinking alcohol." Her gaze dropped to the bottles on the counter. "Does it even affect you?"
Kai displayed the full mockery now, without trying to hide it.
"To be honest, I've never tested it." He picked up the energy drink bottle and put it back in place. "What she drank was just energy drink. But she was too drunk to notice."
Eve truly laughed.
Her laugh came out lighter than anything since they had arrived at Upstate. Then she turned, teasing him.
"So they're not your type? They were pretty."
"Actually, appearance-wise, they were. But let's be honest. At a party like this, who knows where their mouths had been before they came to talk to me? And it would be torture if I had to listen to twenty minutes of that small talk."
Kai nodded and was about to start walking away when she leaned toward him, curious.
"By the way, what was that plan of Amber's you mentioned?"
He did not turn around.
"Amber had the terrible idea of trying to get the two of us together."
Eve rolled her eyes immediately.
"Terrible idea."
"That's what I thought."
One of the guys who had approached Eve earlier appeared at the kitchen entrance with a cup in hand and far too much renewed confidence for someone who could not read a room.
"Found you."
Kai stopped near the passage without looking back.
The guy approached Eve, smiling as if he had already resumed an interrupted conversation.
"You came to grab a drink and never came back."
Eve leaned one hip against the counter, her face already losing patience.
"Yeah. I got busy."
"Come on. Let's have some fun." He tilted his head, trying to look over her shoulder. "You don't have a boyfriend, do you?"
Eve went quiet for a second.
Not out of doubt.
Out of calculated irritation.
"I do, actually."
His smile faltered, but did not die.
"And where is he?"
Eve crossed her arms.
"He can't—"
"I'm here."
Kai appeared beside her, his face neutral, his voice dry enough to turn the lie into an inconvenience.
He looked at Eve.
"Did you get our drinks?"
The guy looked at her.
Then at Kai.
Then at the distance between them.
"Oh fuck."
He walked away without further ceremony, bumping into the kitchen doorway before disappearing back into the living room.
Eve turned to Kai at once, her irritation still too hot to choose the right target.
"I could've handled that alone. You know who I am."
Kai stared at her in silence.
The disdain came without effort.
Not aggressive.
Just too tired to treat the complaint like a real problem.
He turned to leave for the millionth time.
Eve drew a deep breath.
Her shoulders lowered.
She took a few steps and caught up to him before the passage to the living room.
"Sorry. I took it out on you." Her voice came smaller, but firm. "And... thanks."
Kai stopped.
The music seemed louder every extra second he stayed there. Too heavy. Too repetitive. The kind of sound that entered the skull and kept beating against places already sensitive. Between one beat and another, there was still that strange, irritating sensation, as if Viktor's presence was somewhere in the party without saying anything, and that was worse than when he appeared.
Kai closed his fingers once, headache growing.
When he turned to Eve, his face had already returned to its usual boredom. Any social interaction with his head already pounding turned everything into a grinding irritation.
"Whatever," he answered, without putting the blame on her.
He simply ended the subject and kept walking toward the exit.
Eve followed toward the exit, not exactly behind him, but with the same decision already made.
Before they could reach the living room door, Madison and Emma appeared in their path again. Madison held the empty cup as if carrying proof of a violated contract.
She opened her arms to block Kai and almost fell from the motion.
"Where's the drink?"
"Is this some kind of cosmic punishment?" Kai murmured, shaking his head.
Before he could say another word, she leaned against his chest as if he were a convenient wall.
Kai held her shoulders and gently moved her back, keeping enough distance to avoid another disaster.
"The drink is gone."
Madison looked at Eve.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Who's this?" She pointed lightly with the empty cup. "Is she with you?"
Kai's jaw tightened.
Every beat of the music pressed against somewhere already raw.
Eve noticed something was wrong.
Maybe because of that, she stepped in before him, returning the favor he had done for her a moment earlier.
"I am."
Kai turned his face toward her too quickly, a snap.
His gaze did not look like the usual one. There was irritation there, exhaustion, and somehow, it was followed by a sudden change in his posture, as if he were someone else.
Eve held his arm as if it were natural, as if that were part of the answer.
Madison looked at her hand.
Then at Kai.
Then back at Eve.
Suspicion appeared on her face, heavy and drunk. Her mouth opened, ready for some twisted comment.
Kai turned to Eve, measuring her from head to toe.
And then came the most practical solution, and again, completely out of context for the way he normally acted.
He pulled Eve by the waist and kissed her.
It was not delicate.
It was not romantic.
It was a solution far too practical for an idiotic situation, one that did not seem to belong to who he was.
Madison stood still, the empty cup forgotten in her hand.
Emma widened her eyes, then pulled her friend by the arm.
"Okay. Let's go."
Madison still tried to look back one more time, but Emma dragged her down the hallway, disappearing into the music and the crowd.
Kai let go of Eve.
The two stood staring at each other in the middle of the passage.
The party continued around them.
People laughing.
Loud music.
Cups clacking.
Someone stumbling near the stairs.
Nothing in the environment had changed, but the distance between the two of them had.
Eve did not smile.
Her gaze went first toward where Mark was—or where he should be, since from there she could not see him through the crowd.
Then it returned to Kai.
He said nothing either.
His expression carried the same irritated exhaustion as before, but now there was something else trapped beneath it, harder to classify and less convenient to touch. That same pull from the last time.
Eve let out a breath.
"Ah, screw it." She took one step closer. "We're already here anyway."
This time, she was the one who pulled.
The second kiss did not look like a solution to anyone watching.
It was impulse. Another escape. A provocation against a day that had accumulated too much tension in the wrong places.
When they separated, neither of them tried to turn it into a sentence.
The stairs were right beside them.
Kai looked at them.
Eve followed his gaze.
For one second, it looked like one of them would say something intelligent enough to end it there.
Neither did.
The two went upstairs.
The music became more muffled with every step, but did not disappear. It kept vibrating through the walls, following their steps to the upper floor.
The door closed at the end of the hallway.
The music continued on the other side.
First, like something passing through wood and walls and floor all at once. Then quieter. Then just background. Then nothing that mattered.
Fifty minutes later, the upstairs room seemed to exist outside the rest of the fraternity.
The window was half-open, letting in the cold night air and an uneven strip of light from the campus lampposts. Down below, voices rose in fragments. Laughter. Someone shouting someone else's name. A bottle falling somewhere distant. The bass of the music still vibrated through the floor, but now it arrived muffled, almost like an inconvenient memory.
Eve was sitting on the edge of the bed.
Her red hair fell loose over one shoulder, messy in a way she had not yet tried to fix. Her jacket had been thrown over a chair near the desk. She kept her eyes on the window, but she did not really seem to be looking outside.
Kai stood near the other side of the room.
Shirtless, with the faint light drawing shadows over his shoulders and back, he put on the lower part of his clothes without hurry, with that irritating naturalness of someone capable of treating almost anything as just another practical problem solved in the wrong way.
Neither of them rushed to make it better.
Eve dragged her fingers over the wrinkled sheet, using the fabric as something stupid and real to focus on.
It did not.
"You were the only one who didn't say anything about the fight with my parents," Eve finally said.
Her voice came low enough not to compete with the music.
Kai stopped adjusting his clothes.
He turned his face toward her.
Finally, he looked like just Kai again. Tired, ironic, distant in the usual way. Then something passed through his eyes. Not a big change. Not a full glow. Just a bluish coldness, quick, sinking behind the iris like a blade seen underwater.
Eve noticed. The part of her that should have asked whether he was okay stayed quiet.
Kai met her eyes, then went back to getting dressed like the flicker had never happened.
"Because there isn't much to say."
Eve turned her body slightly toward him. "That doesn't sound like an answer."
"I don't think you're wrong," Kai continued, running a hand through his white hair, trying to fix something that did not need fixing. "But I also don't think leaving home is going to solve anything, or that it'll last forever."
Eve stayed silent.
Kai picked up the shirt from the chair, but did not put it on immediately.
"You'll work things out eventually."
The sentence should have sounded optimistic.
In his mouth, it did not.
It sounded like a conclusion drawn from a cold equation. Something observed from the outside. As if he had already seen people break apart, drift away, hate each other for a while, and still find each other again at some crooked point along the path.
Eve lowered her eyes.
"You talk like it's simple."
"I didn't say it would be simple."
"Then why?"
Kai looked at her from the corner of his eye.
"Because you still care."
Eve pressed her lips together.
The answer hit deeper than she wanted to admit. Not because it was new. But because it was too obvious, and she hated when obvious things seemed more painful coming from someone else's mouth.
Kai pulled the shirt on only halfway, then seemed to give up on finishing the motion in that second. The fabric stayed caught in one hand.
"The same goes for that decision of yours about being or not being a hero."
Eve lifted her gaze.
"What do you mean?"
Kai rested his shoulder against the wall, the shirt still hanging between his fingers.
"It doesn't matter."
Her expression tightened a little.
"Is that supposed to offend me?"
"Probably."
"Kai."
He let out a breath through his nose, almost a humorless laugh.
The music downstairs changed to another beat. Someone cheered too loudly in the distant hallway. The sound crossed the room like cheap interference, then died.
Kai continued, lower.
"When you questioned yourself in the past, I knew you'd be a good hero."
Eve went still.
For one second, the sentence opened a crack somewhere too old inside her.
In the past.
Her mind pulled the image before she could stop it.
The boy from the past.
By reflex, Eve pushed the memory away.
No.
She did not want to touch that now. Not now that she had already "figured out"—or decided on her own—that it was Mark. Not with Kai standing there, not even properly dressed, speaking as if he knew things he should not know. Not after what had just happened. Not while some inconvenient part of her insisted on comparing voices, looks, silences.
She chose to misunderstand again.
On purpose.
Like someone closing a door from the inside before the light on the other side revealed too much.
"You mean weeks ago," Eve said, keeping her voice steady.
Kai looked at her.
Eve almost saw him take the lie apart.
He did not.
Eve breathed slowly. "And how are you so sure?"
Kai finally finished putting on the shirt, pulling the fabric down. When he lifted his face, his eyes were normal again.
Or almost.
"Because you genuinely want to help people."
The answer did not come with sweetness.
Maybe that was why it felt more honest.
"Even when you were angry. Even when you were lost. Even when you said you didn't know what you were doing anymore." Kai pushed his shoulder away from the wall. "So, even if you're no longer Atom Eve, you'll keep helping."
Eve stared at him.
Her answer disappeared.
The light from the window touched his profile from the side, highlighting the white hair, the line of his jaw, the expression too tired for someone his age, and, to complete it, the absence of energy in every molecule somehow more visible to someone who could read the atoms in all matter — a void wearing a face. There was something wrong in that calm. Something so beautiful it could almost hypnotize. But wrong. Like a perfect statue placed in the middle of a burning house.
Eve hated noticing that.
Hated even more that guilt came with it.
How did we end up here, doing this again?
Kai lowered his eyes for an instant.
When he looked at her again, the blue appeared.
The room shrank around that blue.
"Your powers create things." His voice came firm, too smooth, still answering how he was so sure, with cold, almost rehearsed perfection. "Change things. Fix what's broken. You can turn disasters into something bearable."
Eve did not look away.
Kai tilted his head slightly, as if the next part had not been meant for her to hear, but slipped out anyway.
"Mine are the opposite. They erase things. Yours make things possible." The blue faded from his eyes. "That fits you better than this ever fit me. That's how I know."
The sentence fell too heavy for the size of the room, while somehow carrying a sincere tone of admiration.
Eve felt her throat tighten.
Not because she had understood.
The problem was that she was still looking at him shirtless and remembering the idiotic decision neither of them had tried to stop for the second time.
"We—I—" Eve broke eye contact first. "I shouldn't have done this."
Kai tilted his head, his posture different from before.
The sarcasm came easily, almost familiar, but there was something dry beneath it. "Done what? Kissed me, or pretended I wasn't the wrong Grayson?"
Eve looked at him immediately.
Anger came first.
Much better than guilt.
She took a step toward him, fists closing at her sides.
"You're an idiot. You were the one who did it first."
Kai held her gaze without blinking. "I'm not stupid, Eve. Don't come at me with that guilty look, because if I thought there was any chance we had feelings for each other, I wouldn't have done it."
Eve forced the next breath to behave.
"A practical solution, then? How do you manage not to care about anything?"
Kai picked up his jacket from the chair. "It's easy. Caring usually takes more work."
Eve stood still.
She stared at him, trying to decide whether she wanted to keep arguing or leave that room.
Then she raised her hand.
Pink particles shone around her fingers.
Energy became form. White, pink, and familiar lines appeared in place, reconstructing Atom Eve in a few seconds. When the glow disappeared, Eve was in uniform.
Kai watched in silence.
She walked to the window.
Eve stopped with one hand on the frame.
She did not fully turn.
"Tell the others I left early. At this point, they already know who I am." Her voice came firm again, though somehow less irritated.
Kai nodded once.
The gesture was serious.
No mockery.
No joke.
Eve opened the window.
Cold air entered all at once, carrying with it the smell of wet grass, dry leaves, and college night. Down below, the party was still loud.
She placed one foot on the sill.
"Same agreement as last time?" Kai asked.
Eve went still for one second.
Her gaze dropped to the street, to the campus lights, to the students laughing near the porch with no idea Atom Eve was about to fly out of a second-floor window.
Then she nodded.
"Same agreement."
There was no goodbye.
She jumped.
Pink energy wrapped around her body in the same instant, silent enough for her to disappear above the roof before anyone below looked up.
Up above, Eve rose until the party became only a bright square in the middle of campus.
Only then did she stop.
She floated above Upstate, arms crossed against the cold that could not really hurt her. Her hair moved around her face, and the university lights looked too small from there.
She closed her eyes.
The guilt was still there.
So was the anger.
But beneath both, there was a third thing. Smaller. More irritating.
Kai was right.
About Mark.
About her.
Mark was with Amber. And when she had seen them together on the couch, it had not been a surprise that it hurt.
Eve opened her eyes again.
The night stretched dark ahead.
Great.
The thought came dry, almost bitter.
So he was right.
She looked one last time at the fraternity house.
Then turned in the air.
The pink light cut across the Upstate sky, disappearing far away, this time without doubting what she would do now.
Annoying as it was, he had given shape to what she had been avoiding.
Back to the Party — 11:42 PM
Kai came down the stairs with the decision to leave. He had already lost count of how many times he had tried.
The music grew again with every step, swallowing the cold silence of the upstairs room until everything became bass vibrating through the floor, mixed voices, the smell of spilled drinks, and too much human heat for a house that had clearly not been built to hold this many people pretending that this was fun.
Kai reached the first floor and immediately turned toward the door.
He did not make it three steps.
"Look at the man!"
The arm came before the person.
Derick appeared from the side as if he had crossed the crowd through pure willpower, throwing an arm around Kai's shoulders with far too much familiarity for someone who valued his own survival.
Kai slowly turned his face.
This has to be a joke. I should've flown out too.
Derick opened a wide smile.
"You went upstairs with a girl. I saw it when I got here." He pointed toward the second floor, eyes shining with disbelief. "I can't believe it. You played corpse just to fuck the mortician."
The look Kai gave him carried disgust, exhaustion, and the bitter acceptance of someone who remembered too late who he was dealing with.
Becky, standing a few steps away with a closed cup between her hands, made almost the same face as Kai.
The difference was that hers carried more familial shame.
"Derick," Becky said, dry.
"What?" Derick looked at her as if he had been unjustly attacked. "That was poetic."
"That was disgusting."
"Poetry can be disgusting."
Kai kept staring at him.
"Okay, okay." He adjusted his own jacket, pretending dignity for half a second. "I'm gonna grab something to drink. Be right back."
Derick pointed two fingers at Kai, then at Becky, as if leaving an important responsibility in their hands, and disappeared among the students toward the kitchen.
Derick left, and somehow took the easy part of the conversation with him.
The party continued around them. People bumped into each other, laughed, passed by carrying cups, went up and down the stairs. But in that small gap near the wall, Becky stood facing Kai, unsure whether to cross her arms, mess with the cup, or pretend she had somewhere else to be.
Kai noticed, but chose to ignore it. He put his hands in his pockets.
"I'm going to take the chance to leave before your brother comes back."
Becky's expression collapsed immediately.
"He's not my brother."
Kai let out a breath with a sarcastic smile and started walking toward the exit.
Becky followed on impulse, then seemed to realize she was following and tightened her fingers slightly around the cup.
"Hey..."
Kai stopped near the door.
Only his face turned.
Becky held his gaze, lost her nerve, and looked back toward the party.
"Can we talk?"
Kai looked at the room consumed by music, drunk people, and an offensive amount of colored lights blinking at terrible intervals.
"If it's outside, away from this infernal music."
Becky made a quiet sound somewhere between a laugh and resignation.
"That works."
The two went out the front door.
The cold night hit Kai's face like a small reward. The fraternity porch was too full of students to be truly quiet, so he went down the steps without waiting. Becky came after him, dodging a guy sitting on the railing and two girls laughing near a column.
They walked a few yards along the side of the house until they found a more empty stretch, near a low wall that followed the edge of the lawn.
The music still reached them there.
But it arrived wounded.
Distant enough to let silence exist between one beat and the next.
Kai stopped near the low wall, back to the party, looking at the property's low fence and the trees beyond it. Becky stayed beside him, but not too close.
Neither of them volunteered to be the first idiot to speak.
Kai waited.
Becky rubbed her thumb along the edge of the cup, looked at the house, then at him.
"It's good to know you're still the same Kai. Aside from the part where you went upstairs with a girl and are at a college party."
He turned his eyes to her. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Becky smiled faintly, but the smile did not hold for long.
Her gaze dropped to the cup.
"After everything that happened that day..." Her voice lost some of its firmness. "When Mirage and Viktor died."
The silence did not stretch.
It gained weight.
Kai did not answer.
The night around them remained the same. A car passed on a farther street, headlights crossing the trees for an instant before vanishing.
"I don't judge what you did that day," Becky continued. "Really... But I saw everything."
Kai kept his eyes on the fence.
The sentence entered low, like something sharp finding the exact gap. Becky breathed slowly before continuing.
"I saw what happened to those cartel thugs. I saw you." Her fingers tightened around the cup until the plastic creaked slightly. "I understand why. They deserved it. After what they did, after everything... I understand."
Kai saw blood before he saw the low wall.
Broken concrete.
Bodies pulled by the Void. Viktor fallen. Mirage.
And beneath the chaos, the feeling.
Not anger.
Not only anger. Enjoyment. The part that still disgusted him.
"You looked like you'd lost yourself that day," Becky said.
Her voice brought the world back by an inch.
"That scared me a lot." She swallowed. "Even more because I had just found out that... you were Grey."
Kai closed his hand inside his pocket.
The fabric of his pants stretched against his fingers.
He did not look at her.
Becky finally lifted her eyes.
Kai's expression was calm. Nothing wrong. Maybe because of that, or because he had been broken for so long that it was hard to notice something was wrong.
The silence lasted until Becky asked the next question.
"You already knew I was Ghost Girl, didn't you?"
Kai blinked once.
His mind returned to the night, to the party, to Becky standing beside him with the same caution of someone approaching a wounded animal without knowing if it still bit.
"I did," Kai answered. "For a few months."
Becky let out a weak, humorless laugh.
"You weren't exactly subtle."
"I was very subtle."
Kai looked at her.
Becky held it for half a second, then looked away.
"Okay. Maybe not."
The almost-smile that crossed her face died quickly.
She held one of her arms, the cup trapped between the fingers of her other hand, and looked at the wet grass beneath her own feet.
"I... was happy to know you're okay now."
Kai did not answer.
Becky continued before her courage ran out.
"After I found out you were Grey, it became obvious that Kiana was Silver. I don't know how I didn't notice before." She shook her head, with a small frustration aimed at herself. "It must have been hard going through all that after Viktor's death, right?"
The name hit again.
This time, Kai turned his face slightly.
Kai felt his mouth curve into something that was not a smile.
The property fence stood a good few yards away, half-hidden by the shadow of a tree. And leaning against it, arms crossed and posture relaxed like someone with all the time in the world, Viktor looked back.
"Sometimes," he murmured, "it really does feel like he never left."
Becky looked at him.
She only heard a sad sentence spoken with irony.
So she smiled in a small, almost gentle way, as if she had understood it as longing.
Then Kai continued, "And it was good to see you're okay too."
Becky seemed to relax a little.
The sentence was short.
Coming from Kai, almost a hug.
When quiet returned, it no longer had teeth.
Becky leaned lightly against the low wall.
"Have you heard from Kiana?"
Kai went still.
"No."
The answer came too fast.
Becky noticed, but did not press.
Kai looked away. "And July?"
Becky went silent, as if looking for what to say.
Kai realized something had happened from her reaction—maybe Becky and July had argued—but before he could ask again, he saw Amber.
She was sitting on a low bench farther from the porch, near a tree partially lit by the light from the fraternity windows. Her posture was too rigid for someone relaxing at a party. An untouched cup sat between her hands.
Beside her, a guy was speaking with enthusiasm.
Tall, confident, easy smile. He gestured while pointing to the house, then to a group on the porch, as if proudly explaining something about the party. Amber listened politely, but not exactly with interest.
Kai frowned and then started walking.
Becky hesitated for a second before following him.
Amber lifted her head when she noticed the two approaching. Her expression eased a little when she recognized Kai, but not enough to hide her annoyance.
"Kai."
"Huh." Kai stopped in front of her, looking around once. "Where's Mark?"
Amber tightened her hands slightly around the cup.
The guy beside her stood with a smile too practiced.
"Kyle." He extended his hand to Kai. "I'm the one throwing this party. I mean, technically it belongs to the fraternity, but I'm part of it."
Kai looked at the hand.
Then at his face.
Then at Amber.
The disdain appeared in his eyes before he bothered to control it.
Still, he shook the hand.
"Kai."
Kyle seemed to feel something in the grip, because his smile hardened for half a second before returning to its place.
"Cool. You guys visiting the campus?"
"Something like that."
Amber stepped in before the conversation could get worse.
"Mark went looking for William and left me waiting alone. It's been a while."
Kai looked at her again.
"He went looking for William?"
Amber nodded, irritation slipping out a little more.
"Said he'd be back quickly. That was a while ago."
Becky crossed her arms beside him.
"Kai..."
But Kai had already connected the dots.
William.
Rick.
The afternoon attack.
The robotic creature with human flesh trapped inside.
Mark would not leave Amber waiting unless something had happened.
Kai's stomach sank.
"Damn it."
Amber stood.
"What?"
Kai was already turning.
"I'm going after them."
"Kai, wait." Amber's voice hardened. "What is going on?"
He stopped for one second.
His gaze returned to her.
There were too many questions on Amber's face. About Mark. About Eve. About him. About that afternoon. About everything the others seemed to know before her.
Kai had no time for any of them.
He looked at Becky.
"Stay with her."
Becky opened her mouth, surprised by the order.
"I—"
Kai had already started walking.
Kyle took half a step, confused.
"Hey, man, you can't just—"
Kai passed him without looking.
He crossed the side of the house in quick steps, leaving the music and lights behind. He passed under the shadow of a tree, then through a dark strip between the fraternity and the neighboring building. Once he was sure no one from the party could properly see him, he looked up.
His eyes glowed blue for an instant.
The pain at the back of his head answered almost in the same second.
Kai ignored it.
Bent his knees.
And disappeared into the sky.
In less than two minutes, Kai was already flying over Upstate in the Infinity suit.
He let the Six Eyes sweep the university below.
The blue eyes crossed the campus in layers, separating movement, heat, shadows, and minimal details. Lawns, buildings, parking lots, side paths, rooftops, windows, internal roads. Each point was read and discarded in sequence.
Fifteen seconds after he started searching with the Six Eyes, he found it.
An open manhole beside an almost deserted sidewalk, too close to an administrative building to look like an accident.
Kai dove in the same instant.
His body cut through the air in a straight line, entered the open hole, and disappeared into the dark.
Upstate Sewers — 11:53 PM
Mark's impact against the wall made the concrete crack.
Four creatures surrounded him in the wide tunnel, each one too heavy to move like something human and too human to be called only a machine.
Just like the one he and Kai had faced earlier.
Only stronger.
One of them advanced with its arm raised.
Mark dodged by a hair, grabbed the metallic wrist, and threw the creature to the ground without using enough force to tear it apart. Another came from the side and struck his ribs with a dry blow. Mark was dragged several steps back, his feet scraping through the dirty water on the floor.
The third creature leapt at him.
Before it could reach Mark, it was hit by another of its own kind, one Mark had struck seconds earlier after removing the upper metallic part covering its face.
The impact against the other creature threw both of them into a wall of damp bricks.
Mark turned his head.
Somehow, it had regained consciousness when William, on the other side, strapped to the table, shouted his name.
Rick.
Or what was left of him.
His face was exposed, trapped beneath metal plates and cables that entered through the skin. One eye was still human. The other was a red lens trembling inside a mechanical frame. His entire body seemed to fight against itself, but Rick was still standing.
He advanced again, grabbed the creature he had knocked down, and pinned it against the wall.
Mark wasted no time.
He dropped the other three in sequence, without finishing any of them. A punch to the center of one's chest, a kick to another's legs, a blow to the third's shoulder. The creatures fell scattered across the tunnel floor, metal grinding as they tried to get up.
Mark flew to the table in the corner of the improvised laboratory.
William was strapped down with metal bands, eyes wide, wrists marked from trying to free himself.
Mark tore the locks apart with his hands.
"We're getting you out of here."
William stood up stumbling, still unable to believe he was whole.
On the other side of the room, Dr. Sinclair grabbed a briefcase from the floor and pulled a laptop from a workbench.
He was thin, pale, with black hair combed back to the height of his neck. His blue-gray eyes moved too fast, not from fear, but from indignation. Even surrounded by bodies, blood, and machines, his expression still carried the arrogance of someone who thought he was the only adult in the room.
"You ruined something that could have changed an entire era!" Sinclair pressed the briefcase against his body and started running. "This was evolution!"
William went after him.
He struck Sinclair from behind, knocking them both to the floor.
The briefcase slid away. The laptop hit the filthy water and went dark.
William grabbed his lab coat and started punching.
"What did you do to Rick?" Another blow hit Sinclair's face. "You monster!"
The three creatures Mark had knocked down started to rise.
Rick grabbed one of them again and locked it against the wall, his mechanical arms trembling with the effort.
The other two advanced toward Mark.
Kai dropped into the middle of the tunnel at that instant.
Dirty water splashed around his feet.
His blue eyes took in everything at once.
The halves of people hanging from hooks.
Organs on trays.
Robotic pieces attached to flesh.
William beating Sinclair.
Mark surrounded.
Rick with that face trapped inside a creature.
Disgust and nausea rose hard.
Kai clenched his jaw.
"What the fuck is happening here?"
One of the creatures went toward Mark.
Kai advanced, his eyes glowing a more intense blue behind the mask.
The blow came fast. At that point, his blood had already boiled.
His hand struck the upper part of the mechanical head with brutal force, tearing the entire structure away in a single motion. The creature's body fell to the ground, deactivated, heavy and unresponsive.
Mark turned immediately.
"Don't kill them!"
Kai froze.
Came back to himself.
Mark pointed to Rick, then to the other creatures.
"They might still be alive. Be people. I don't know, but don't kill them!"
Kai looked at the fallen body.
Then at Rick.
The information clicked too late.
The other creature tried to get past him.
Kai grabbed both metallic arms, twisted them behind its back, and immobilized it without difficulty. It thrashed, red visor trembling, pistons groaning against his strength.
"Damn it." Kai tightened the hold, without crushing. "What do I do now?"
Sinclair managed to escape William and ran staggering toward the exit.
Mark appeared in front of him.
Mark's face was closed.
Sinclair tried to raise his hands.
He did not have time.
Mark's punch struck his face.
The jaw broke with a dry, horrible sound. Sinclair spun through the air and fell sideways to the floor, motionless for a few seconds, breathing with difficulty.
William stopped behind him, panting, fists still clenched.
Rick approached Kai, dragging the creature he was holding.
With one hand, he kept its body pinned against the wall. With the other, he pulled a small plate on the back of the mechanical head. His metallic fingers found a circuit and ripped the piece out in a snap of sparks.
The creature shut down immediately.
Kai felt the body he was holding lose strength.
He looked at Rick.
Then at what was left on the floor.
The blue in his eyes went out.
Not from exhaustion this time, but because his first decision had been to kill the creature that advanced on Mark, without realizing it could have been someone like Rick.
Kai carefully lowered the unconscious creature, as if that could still fix anything. Then he brought a hand to his communicator.
"Cecil?"
A Few Minutes Later — Manholes, Beneath Upstate
The GDA took over the tunnel.
Armed agents blocked the exits. Paramedics examined Rick, the other creatures, and William. Technicians photographed the laboratory, collected samples, and shut down machines. Portable lights made everything far too clear.
William sat on a stretcher, wrapped in a thermal blanket. He had not been touched thanks to Mark arriving in time, but he was still trembling as he looked at Rick.
Rick was surrounded by GDA doctors, sitting against the wall, half man, half machine, conscious enough to follow William with his eyes.
Kai stood beside Mark.
Untouched.
Without a scratch.
Mark sat on a broken concrete block, one hand on his ribs, watching the agents place Sinclair on a stretcher. The scientist's face was covered in gauze, but the ruined jaw still deformed everything.
Mark ran a hand through his hair.
"Damn, man." He stared at his own hand for an instant. "I lost control."
Kai turned his face slightly toward him.
Mark kept looking at Sinclair being carried away.
"I think I understand now what happened to you that day with our teacher and the bombs."
Kai took too long to answer. Then he looked at Sinclair.
"At least he deserved it."
The sentence came calm, but it did not clean the weight from the tunnel.
Kai's gaze returned to the creature he had decapitated. The body was partially covered by a sheet, separated from the other stretchers.
A humorless sound left him.
"I arrived without even understanding what was happening" His voice was calm, coming out more like comfort for Mark. "and Killed someone."
Mark looked at him.
Kai kept staring at the body, remembering for the second time that day the massacre he had committed against the cartels.
"Yeah. This was worse." His voice stayed calm, which somehow made it uglier. "I'm not fit to be a hero. Maybe our father was right. Maybe I'm better at ending problems than saving people."
Mark forgot his ribs were hurting.
He had always looked at Kai as someone more prepared. Faster. Stronger. More certain than him most of the time. Seeing his brother say that, without any irony, stirred something Mark had not expected.
Mark did not let him look away. "Just the fact that you think that already shows you are."
"Maybe."
Cecil had entered the tunnel a moment earlier, accompanied by Donald and two more agents.
He was standing still, looking around.
Rick. William. He saw Sinclair being carried away. Saw the covered body.
The half-smile that appeared on his face after hearing the two brothers' conversation did not fit the place, but it was not mockery either.
"Humanity has hope after all."
Donald looked toward Kai and Mark.
"They seem like normal boys. That's good."
Cecil approached them.
"Don't beat yourselves up. You did what you could." His gaze passed over both of them. "Now we'll see what we can do to help the other boys."
Kai did not react.
Mark looked at him. "What are you going to do with him?"
Cecil followed his gaze to Sinclair.
"I'd love to lock him up and throw away the key." He adjusted his coat, looking at the machines around them. "But this technology is impressive. Hard to believe they gave you trouble."
Mark slowly stood, still holding his ribs.
He stared at Rick.
Then at the stretchers.
Then at the laboratory.
"Only if by impressive you mean disgusting."
Cecil did not argue.
He turned to the two of them.
"We'll take it from here. You can go home."
Kai and Mark nodded.
Before leaving, they went to William.
William looked at them, then at Rick, unable to hold back his broken expression.
Mark placed a hand on his shoulder.
"They're going to help him."
William swallowed hard.
Soon after, the three flew out of the sewers and into the Upstate night.
A little later, Mark, William, and Kai reunited with Amber near the visitor housing.
William was still too shaken to sustain a long conversation. Amber listened to the explanation in silence, arms crossed, her face closed by the irritation that remained and the concern she was trying to hide.
When Mark finished telling the basics, without too many details, she slowly let out the air.
"My God, I'm glad you're okay." Her gaze went to William for an instant, then returned to Mark, and she hugged him.
A little later, they went to the rooms. Amber went ahead with William, talking to him.
Kai stayed beside his brother in the hallway of the visitor housing, watching the door she had gone through.
"Mark."
Mark turned his face, already too tired to argue before he even knew the subject.
Kai kept his tone low.
"Even though she has her share of a point—" The tone came out like advice, but he changed his mind halfway through the sentence and slipped his hands into his pockets.
"What, man?"
Kai stayed silent for one second, then continued. "If I were allowed to say something, I'd say I don't trust her."
Mark went still.
Then his expression closed.
"You're talking about my girlfriend."
"I know."
"Then don't."
Kai held his gaze for another instant, neither backing down nor turning it into a fight.
Mark looked away first, irritated, and went down the hallway.
Kai stayed behind.
He had not said it to provoke him.
But he would not take it back either.
Meanwhile, Elsewhere — Grayson House
The house was quiet.
Debbie crossed the house with a small pile of folded clothes in her arms, her steps muffled by the carpet and the hour. The yellow hallway light left everything with that too-calm late-night appearance.
She yawned, pushing the bedroom door open with her shoulder.
"I shouldn't have had coffee so late."
The sentence came low, almost to no one, as she entered and went to the closet.
She opened one of the doors, separated a few pieces that had come back from the laundry, and began placing each one on a hanger. One of Nolan's shirts. A dress of hers. Another coat. Another shirt.
Then her hand stopped.
There was a coat in the back, almost hidden, hanging there, and it was neither hers nor Nolan's.
Debbie frowned.
She pulled the piece from the hanger and examined the fabric, the color, the cut. She did not recognize it. It did not seem like Nolan's either. It was heavy, dark, with faint traces of dust on the hem.
"Huh... where did this come from?"
She instinctively felt the pockets.
Found something.
A small notebook came out of the coat, held between her fingers. The cover had no name, only signs of use and a folded edge. Debbie opened to the first page, looking for some identification.
Nothing.
She flipped a little further until she found a section marked by a paper clip.
The left page had a mind map made in a hurry.
At the center, written in bold letters:
Omni-Man — Nolan
Her eyes moved down the arrows.
Death of the Guardians.
No culprit found.
Nolan killed the Guardians, but there is no proof.
Uniform with Guardians' blood.
Evidence. Uniform not found.
The room seemed to grow colder.
Debbie held the notebook tighter.
The image of Damien Darkblood appeared in her mind before she could stop it. The demon standing in the house, his strange insistence, wearing exactly that coat.
She closed her eyes for a second.
When did he leave this coat here?
She tried to push the idea away.
But another memory came right behind it.
Nolan's uniform. The bloodstains. Herself cleaning them.
Debbie opened her eyes and turned to the right page.
What she saw there caught the air in her throat.
Kai Grayson → Grey?
Killer → 50+ bodies. GDA cover-up. One source.
Her hand trembled.
Right below, another note:
Grey and Omni-Man connection.
Does Omni-Man not know about his son?
Debbie turned the page held by the clip.
A few photographs came with it.
They slipped out of the notebook and slid between her fingers: grainy images, some blurred, others far too clear. Bodies on the floor. Signs of fighting. Blood spread across a room that did not look human for a few seconds. Another photo showed the Guardians' hall before cleaning, destroyed, empty, and full of traces no one should have taken from there.
Debbie brought a hand to her mouth.
The horror rose slowly, cold, different from shock.
Then Nolan's voice came from downstairs.
"I'm making something to eat. Do you want anything?"
Debbie startled.
The notebook slipped from her fingers.
The photos fell to the floor, scattering near her feet.
She looked at the open bedroom door as if Nolan could appear there at any second.
"No—" Her voice failed. Debbie breathed fast and crouched, gathering everything with hurried hands. "No. I'm not hungry."
Downstairs, Nolan did not answer immediately.
Debbie collected the photos one by one, trying to put them back in order without looking too much. But one of them flipped in the process.
There was a date written on the back.
She stopped.
Read it again.
The pressure in her chest loosened a little.
Debbie picked up another photo. Then another.
The same window of time.
Before.
Before Mark and Kai got their powers.
She let out the air, low and trembling, almost laughing in relief but unable to.
"He was wrong." Her voice came in a whisper. "About Kai... and about Nolan."
Debbie kept looking at the notebook, waiting for the relief to become certainty.
It did not erase everything.
Not the uniform. Not the notes. And definitely not erase Damien Darkblood.
But it gave her something to hold on to.
She put the photos back between the pages, closed the notebook, and pushed it into the coat pocket. Then she hung the piece in the same place where she had found it, adjusting the hangers around it as if that could undo what she had seen.
Before leaving, she looked at the closet one last time.
Downstairs, something metallic clattered in the kitchen.
Nolan preparing food.
Normal.
Domestic.
Impossible to match with those pages.
Debbie turned off the bedroom light and left, closing the door slowly behind her.
Interlude — Part 1: New Home
Forest Somewhere — 1:47 AM
The last wall closed with a faint pink glow.
Eve floated a few inches backward, evaluating the house built among the thick branches of a tall tree. It was not perfect. Some parts still looked too improvised, others too beautiful for something made in the middle of the night.
But it was hers.
The energy around her hands went out.
Her entire body collected the price at once.
Eve entered through the opening that served as a door, crossed the small room, and threw herself onto the bed she had created herself. The mattress sank beneath her with simple comfort.
She turned onto her side, still wearing a sulky face.
The forest grew quiet outside.
Within seconds, Eve was out.
Interlude — Part 2: Obsessions
Russian Military Base — 8:47 PM
The laboratory was cold, white, and far too silent.
At the center of the room, the same tank that had once occupied Dr. Mikhail's private laboratory was now installed among Russian military machines, reinforced cables, and genetic analysis panels. Inside the thick liquid, a silhouette remained suspended, motionless, connected to tubes that climbed to the ceiling.
Dr. Mikhail worked in front of the screens with hunched shoulders and eyes far too bright for someone who should have been tired.
Beside him, a younger scientist followed the readings, trying not to show how little he understood of what he was seeing.
"Do you see how fascinating it is?" Mikhail pointed to a sequence of enlarged cells on the screen, then to the tank. "This young man's cells transform their surroundings into energy. The damage received should have been fatal, but somehow, we managed to keep him alive because of that."
He zoomed in on the image, watching the molecules slowly reorganize.
"I only need to discover how to evolve these cells."
Natasha crossed the room with firm steps, arms folded behind her back, military posture intact. Andrey came beside her, larger, rigid, his gaze locked on the screens as if every piece of data were a personal offense.
Natasha stopped behind Mikhail.
"So we are making progress?"
Mikhail did not take his eyes off the screen.
"Yes. Although it is a more primitive and weaker form, it is the same molecular signature that stabilized Russell's blood." He switched to another comparison, and new DNA lines appeared side by side. "In fact, it is progress. But it is not simple. This will not be done in days. Not even months."
Natasha frowned.
"Are you saying it will take years?"
Mikhail finally turned his face toward her.
"You do not understand the magnitude of what we have found." His voice lowered, but the shine in his eyes intensified. "Even if it takes me ten years, if I understand how these molecules work, or what the difference is between them and the blood of the other young man that stabilized Russell, I will have the key for us to live hundreds of years."
He pointed to the main screen.
"This individual's blood is evolution. We have the destination and 'the halfway point.'" He shifted his gaze to the tank. "I only need to find the path there."
On the screens, dozens of samples appeared organized by name.
Bruce.
Christopher.
Edward.
Robert.
Andrey.
Other subjects with special abilities passed through columns of data, genetic markers, and compatibility indexes.
Beside the sample from the subject in the tank, the name of the last comparison.
Kai Grayson.
Andrey locked his jaw.
Dr. Mikhail noticed.
A thin smile appeared on his face.
"Imagine if I managed to replicate this in you."
Andrey did not answer.
But his fists remained closed.