253 BEND IT LIKE GRAVITON
Damen quickly inspected the machine that had been sustaining Kail's life.
There was no malfunction.
The systems were intact, stable and functioning perfectly.Someone had deliberately disconnected his life support…. Remotely.
His hands trembled only for a fraction of a second before he transferred the tank into his special space.
"Perhaps Kalmer can revive you later," he whispered, clinging to the last fragile hope of seeing Kail again.
He exited the shattered shuttle.
The skies were now thick with drones and juggernauts, pouring toward him in a relentless swarm.
Then something gnawed at him.
A thought.
Kail had already disabled most of the armada's drones and machines. That much was certain.
"So how had they launched a final coordinated swarm at the very last moment?"
"Who's controlling these drones?" Damen muttered.
And then another detail clicked into place.
Kail's life support had been terminated at that exact same moment.
It wasn't the woman psychic—she had been fully engaged, fighting for her life. She hadn't had the time to do it. And there had been no one else on the shuttle.
A cold realization crept up his spine.
It was a Quantum Mind.
There was only one other Quantum Mind he knew—one capable of hijacking an entire drone network and executing a precise remote termination of Kail's life support tank.
Damen immediately checked Argent's location.
To his shock, Argent's location beacon was active.
He was in the city.
Not far away.
"Did Argent do all of this?"
"Did he control the drone swarm… and terminate Kail's life support?"
"Why?Wasn't he an ally?"
The questions churned in Damen's mind.
Then realization struck.
Something must have happened to Argent after he was taken by Godfather. Somehow, that bastard had twisted him—turned him into a weapon for his own use.
And then Damen remembered something else.
He immediately checked Sienna's location.
Nothing.
She couldn't be found.
"Maybe she's outside the city," he muttered, though the thought did little to ease his unease.
Damen lifted his gaze toward Argent's position, his expression hardening into something merciless.
"I don't care about evidence," he said quietly. "I don't care about motives."
His voice dropped to a growl.
"Anyone who harms my brother must die."
Black Halo shot downward like a falling star—
Straight toward the silver-haired body.
------
[A while ago- in the hidden subway of Liberty City]
"Sister—we're running into a dead end," Celadon warned.
Behind them, swarms of machines poured into the tunnel, metal bodies flooding forward under Argent's command.
"I'm down to my last meta-humans," Erythos said grimly.
Her tentacles flung wide, each one holding a powerful meta-human, channeling force fields to shield them. "If they fall, we'll have no defense left."
"There's no way out," Celadon said, staring at the rock wall ahead. "Nothing beyond this point but solid stone."
Sienna looked at the dead end.
There was no escape.
Slowly, she turned toward Argent.
"I hate to do this," Sienna said, her voice heavy, "but Argent… you must die."
The air stilled.
Psychic pressure began to build as Sienna focused her power.Even now, she hesitated.Argent was possessed—but he was still her little brother.
Everyone felt it.The weight.The impending collapse.
But Argent showed no fear.
"Do you really think I would come down here to face you," he said calmly, "if I wasn't prepared?"
He reached up and removed his hood.
A circlet gleamed around his head.
"What is that?" Erythos asked.
Celadon's eyes widened."That's a rare artifact—the Ring of Clear Mind. It can block even the strongest psychic attacks."
Sienna's breath caught.
Her power pressed forward… and failed to break through.
"Who would give you something like that?" she asked.
Argent smiled.
"Since you're all about to die, I'll tell you," he said. "Godfather, of course. With the Ring of Clear Mind, it's impossible for you to use psychic attacks on me."
His voice turned cold.
This was the end of the road.
Erythos' final defenders were obliterated one by one, shredded by relentless drone fire.
Now there was nothing left.
"Now," Argent cried, raising his hand,"all of you die."
-----
Black Halo reached Argent, who sat alone on a shattered roadside bench. The asphalt around him was cracked and jagged, slabs of black road jutting upward like broken teeth.
Yet Argent remained calm—almost relaxed—despite Black Halo's looming presence.
"Did you kill Kail?" Damen asked.
Argent smiled.
"Godfather wanted two Quantum minds under his control," he said evenly. "But I wouldn't allow that. There can be only one… me."
"You killed Kail just for that?" Damen shouted. "He did nothing to you. He even rescued you from your kidnapping!"
"That was a different Argent," he replied. "I am a new Argent… reborn."
Damen's eyes hardened."Then there's nothing more to say," he said coldly.
"Just die."
Argent laughed."Do you really think I came here unprepared?"
A heavy footstep echoed behind him.
From the shadows emerged a towering figure clad in dense metal armor. An enormous, tank-like helmet obscured his face, thick hoses running from his body into the plating. Steam hissed violently with every breath he took.
"What the hell is that?" Damen muttered.
"Allow me to introduce you," Argent said. "This is Graviton."
Damen's Vision Connect activated instantly, data scrolling across his sight.
Name: Graviton
Strength Rank: AMeta Rank: 6A Armor: Rank A
"Damn it," Damen growled. "I barely survived a super soldier… and now you throw a superhuman at me."
Damen felt it first—not as pressure, but as weight.
The ground groaned beneath his boots as gravity spiked without warning. Cracks spider-webbed outward, the asphalt compressing as if the planet itself were pressing down on him.
Graviton raised one massive hand.
Black Halo dropped to one knee.
"Gravity crap, he's making me kneel," Damen muttered, plasma flaring instinctively from his core just to keep himself upright.
Graviton took a step forward.
The world bent around him.
Streetlights bowed inward. Loose debris skidded across the road, dragged toward the armored titan as though he were the center of a collapsing star.
Cars lifted from the ground, metal screaming as they were torn free and crushed into dense, spinning spheres that orbited his body.
Argent watched from the bench, his eyes glowing faintly.
"You can't fight force with plasma," he said calmly. "You can't burn gravity."
Damen snarled. Plasma erupted from his back as he forced himself upward.
"Are you sure about that?" Black Halo replied to Argent.
Then his body lifted off from the momentum of his plasma beam. But the moment he lifted off…
….Graviton clenched his fist.
Gravity inverted.
Black Halo was slammed sideways, hurled through the air like a meteor. He tore through a concrete barrier and skidded across the road, carving a molten trench before crashing into a collapsed building.
Before the dust could settle, Graviton pulled.
The wreckage ripped free. Bricks, steel, and glass folded inward as gravity reversed again, compressing into a single dense mass before being launched toward Damen at impossible speed.
Black Halo burst from the rubble, plasma igniting as he fired a concentrated beam.
The blast struck the debris sphere——and bent.
The plasma curved, dragged off course by Graviton's gravity field, spiraling uselessly into the sky.
"Shit," Damen breathed. "The bastard bent my beam."