256 A SOLID CASE
"What happened to you, brother?" Liorea asked, torn between shock and joy as she stared at the hologram.
Kail smiled gently. "I see… you even brought my body back. I didn't think that would be possible after everything. I thought I'd be gone for good."
"Damen brought your body back," Liorea said quickly.
Kail turned toward him, surprised. "Big brother—you did that? How? There was a powerful psychic and—"
"Yes," Damen said flatly.
"I dealt with it. The armada. Its general. Its captain."
He paused, "And the psychic bitch too."
Kail lowered his gaze. "I'll never become a hero like you."
"No," Damen replied quietly. "You already are one."
He exhaled. "I, on the other hand…"A faint smile crossed his face.
"I'm a supervillain now."
Kalmer stepped forward, still unsettled. "I don't understand this Kail. I personally verified it—your brain activity was zero. You were clinically dead."
"When I realized I was going to die," Kail said, "I transferred my consciousness into that machine and ordered the soldiers to bring it back here. Its processing power was limited—I couldn't manifest myself."
He glanced around the cavern. "But now I've ported my consciousness into the fortress's servers. That's why I can appear as a hologram."
"…That's unbelievable, your powers don't originate from your brains?" Kalmer muttered.
"So," Damen asked, "can you return to your body once we repair it?"
Kail shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe. There could be technology advanced enough to do it—things we haven't discovered yet. The world beyond Melrose and Silver City is vast."
"Then I'll find it," Damen said immediately. "Whatever it takes."
"Me too," Liorea added.
Kail chuckled softly. "Don't worry too much. I actually enjoy what I am now. My control over data and systems has evolved far beyond what I was capable of before."
"So, you got an upgrade," Damen said dryly.
"You could call it that," Kail replied. "I can do things I never could before—reach Silver City from this wilderness fortress. Be here… and everywhere at once."
Damen's eyes sharpened. "Then send a message to Zairgid. Let him know we're alive."
"And Eryn," he added.
"Of course," Kail said with a smile.
Then—
"Oh no," Kail said suddenly. "We have trouble in Silver City."
Damen stiffened. "What kind of trouble?"
"Zairgid," Kail said. "They're impounding his assets. He's been arrested… for murder."
"Murder?" Damen snapped. "That's impossible. He couldn't kill a fly."
"There must be a conspiracy," Liorea said quickly. "After the major families failed to take Liberty City, they're targeting everyone connected to it. Zairgid. Aukouma Industries."
Kail's expression darkened. "Eryn is missing too."
"She's probably hiding after the arrest," Damen said. "I'm going back to Silver City to straighten things out."
"All right," Liorea said. "Keep us informed."
Damen hesitated. "Aren't you coming with me?"
She shook her head. "No. There's something I need to do here—now that Kail is back. And like this."
"What are you thinking, sis?" Kail asked.
"You may not have a human body anymore," Liorea said slowly, "but what if I build you one?"
She met his eyes. "A mech body. One you can walk in. Fight in. Live in. You can still live your dreams like a human."
Kail smiled. "That's… a very good idea."
Damen nodded. "Then we leave it at that."
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[Back in Silver City- The West and Strong Agency]
Damen sat on a cushioned bench, his eyes fixed on the holo-screen as the news looped endlessly through Silver City.
For days now, the city had been obsessed with the invasion of Liberty City. It was rare for Silver City's army and armada to be deployed at full strength—and rarer still for them to lose.
Yet they had lost everything.
And the culprit was a single man.
"Silver City's armada has fallen."
"Supervillain Black Halo demolished the pride of Silver City."
"Super Soldier Sorrow confirmed dead."
"Superhero Graviton perished in a catastrophic nuclear detonation."
Murmurs filled the hall.
"Who is this Black Halo?" the man beside Damen muttered. "How can one person defeat the military of an entire city?"
Damen didn't answer.
"Not just the regular army," another added. "Hundreds of elite metas. Heroes…. were all slaughtered. How does one man do that?"
A woman's voice cut through the noise, calm and familiar.
"Yes," she said, stepping closer. "I was about to ask the same thing. How did Black Halo kill an entire army of heroes?"
Damen finally looked up.
It was Dorin.
He rose and pulled her into a brief hug before speaking, his voice steady and unapologetic.
"It isn't difficult," he said. "Silver City's meta-humans are products of amplification machines. Their power is artificial and their ranks are inflated. On paper, they're impressive—but their endurance is several ranks lower than advertised."
He glanced around the room, meeting the eyes of those listening.
"Against a real fighter like Black Halo," Damen continued, "they aren't soldiers. They're livestock for the real butchers."
The nearby listeners bristled. Their faces tightened and pride flared. A few opened their mouths to argue.
Damen didn't care.
Without another glance, he turned and walked with Dorin toward another room, leaving wounded egos and shattered illusions behind.
-----
Lander sat at the center of the room behind a massive table, buried beneath towering stacks of files and physical documents. Behind him, dozens of holo-screens hovered in the air, each streaming footage, data, timelines, and reports—far more information than a normal mind could process at once.
Damen smiled as he stepped inside."Your business seems to be thriving here in Silver City."
Lander acknowledged him only by lowering his glasses onto the table.
He ignored the compliment.
"Your friend Zairgid is in serious trouble," he said bluntly.
"Yes, I heard," Damen replied. "What's the situation now?"
"We've taken up the case on his behalf," Lander said. "The trial begins in a few days—and every piece of evidence is stacked against him."
Aside from being an investigator, Lander also held a public defender's license. When things turned ugly, he didn't just uncover the truth—he fought in court.
With a flick of his hand, the holoscreens shifted.
The footage played.
Zairgid stood in a heated argument with his uncle, Arom. Voices escalated. Zairgid grabbed a clock and hurled it across the room. Then, in a burst of motion, he charged forward, a dagger flashing as it plunged into Arom's chest.
Then the recording ended.
"There's no stronger evidence than this," Dorin said quietly.
"Zairgid wouldn't do that," Damen replied flatly. "That is the truth."
Lander exhaled. "The truth doesn't matter in court. Only the process does."
Damen smiled faintly.
"If this video is the strongest evidence," he said, "then the solution is simple. The footage is forged."
Lander shook his head. "We've already checked. Every frame. Every pixel. Compression, lighting, shadow refraction—everything is flawless. There's no sign of tampering."
Damen went silent for a moment.
Then he asked, "Do you remember how we exposed Kurt back in high school?"
Dorin blinked. "Yeah… that was a long time ago."
Lander froze. Slowly, he raised a hand.
"Are you saying this is the work of a Quantum Mind again?" he asked. "That someone framed Zairgid using a fabricated footage—one so perfect it can't be disproven?"
"Yes," Damen said, his expression darkening. "A Quantum is involved this time."
Dorin frowned. "Then what can we do? How do you fight a mind like that?"
Damen paused, choosing his words carefully.
"We don't," he said at last. "We counter it."
He looked up at the holoscreens.
"We need the help of another Quantum Mind."
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