The facility felt different the next morning.
It wasn't quieter, and it certainly wasn't slower. If anything, the tempo had increased. But the rhythm had changed. It felt sharper, more focused—as if the entire building had adjusted its internal clock overnight to match the two anomalies living within its heart.
Jessie walked alone.
No Leo. No jokes. No distractions to buffer the sound of his own thoughts. His footsteps echoed through the steel corridors, a solitary, rhythmic metallic thud. His arm moved better now—the stiffness had receded into a dull, manageable throb—but "better" was a relative term.
He knew the truth now, and the truth was a cold weight in his chest. Better wasn't enough. In this world, better was just a slow way to fail.
The Observation Deck
He stopped just outside a massive glass wall overlooking Training Bay Seven. Inside, the room was a blur of motion.
Leo.
He was in the center of the floor, surrounded by a swarm of training drones. He moved with a terrifying fluidness, his body instinctive and clean. He wasn't thinking; he was reacting.
BOOM.
A pulse of emerald energy took out a drone to his left. He didn't even look at it. He was already pivoting, his hand raised to intercept a target coming from his blind spot.
Two instructors stood on the observation deck near Jessie, their backs to him. They were hovering over a tablet, their voices low but clear in the sterile air.
"...He's adapting fast," one of them whispered, sounding genuinely impressed.
"Minimal strain," the other added, tapping the screen. "Energy output is perfectly stable. Response time is improving by the hour. It's like the tech was made for him."
Jessie stood perfectly still, his shadow stretching across the floor.
"...Natural talent," someone else muttered.
Jessie looked down at his own hand. He clenched it into a fist. Natural talent. The words felt like a judgment. For Leo, the power was a gift that fit like a second skin. For Jessie, it was a war.
Inside the Room
Inside the bay, Leo fired again.
BOOM.
A perfect hit. No hesitation. No backlash. No blue fractures stretching across his skin. He lowered his hand, his breathing steady, looking like he could go for another ten rounds without breaking a sweat.
"...Again?" Leo asked, his voice echoing through the intercom.
"Take five," an instructor replied. "We need to recalibrate the drone sensors."
Leo nodded, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. He turned to walk toward the hydration station, and that was when his eyes met Jessie's through the glass.
A pause stretched between them—heavy and silent. Then, Leo headed for the door.
He stepped out into the hallway, his cybernetic eye whirring as it adjusted to the softer light. "...You good?"
Jessie nodded. "...Yeah."
Leo studied him, his gaze lingering on Jessie's right arm. "...You didn't come in for the morning session."
Jessie shrugged, his voice detached. "...Didn't feel like being watched like a bug under a microscope today."
Leo exhaled, a sound of mounting frustration. "...They're just trying to help, Jess. They're trying to make sure we don't kill ourselves out there."
Jessie gave a small, humorless smile. "...Yeah. You too."
Leo's brow furrowed. "...What's that supposed to mean?"
Jessie shook his head and turned away. "...Nothing."
But it wasn't nothing. It was the sound of a crack forming in a foundation that was already under too much pressure. And Leo knew it. He reached out to say something more, to bridge the distance, but the moment was gone.
PRIME Calls
The world flickered.
It started as a high-pitched ring in Jessie's ears, followed by a sudden drop in the ambient temperature. He felt the pull instantly—that familiar, magnetic shift that dragged his consciousness away from the steel and the glass.
He didn't fight it. He couldn't.
The hallway dissolved. Leo's frustrated expression vanished. The hum of the facility died.
And then—
He was gone.
The Void — Again
The blue expanse opened up around him, endless and silent. Jessie stood in the center of the nothingness, his body feeling light, his arm finally free of the phantom heat.
But he wasn't alone.