The aircraft disappeared into the clouds, carrying Naji away from the city he had entered only hours earlier. Below, the streets were still filled with emergency vehicles and frightened civilians, while above, the CDA transport continued toward its destination. Naji remained unconscious in the rear compartment, his body secured to a reinforced seat. The suppression collar around his neck prevented his gravity from responding, while the residual exhaustion from his battle slowly settled into every muscle. He had pushed himself hard enough to survive, and now his body was collecting the price.
Back in the city, Akari watched the aircraft until it became nothing more than a dark speck against the sky. Her hands were clenched. Ren stood beside her, silent. She suddenly turned toward him, anger flashing across her face.
«Akari: "Why did you stop me?"»
Ren sighed.
«Ren: "Because running after armed CDA personnel was a terrible idea."»
«Akari: "They were taking him!"»
«Ren: "And you were going to do what?"»
Akari opened her mouth, then stopped. She didn't have an answer. That only made her angrier.
«Akari: "He saved me."»
Ren's expression softened.
«Ren: "I know."»
Akari looked toward the empty sky again. She remembered Naji standing there while the CDA surrounded him. She remembered the mutant taser striking him. Most of all, she remembered the ridiculous smile he had given her before everything went dark.
«Akari: "He gave me a peace sign."»
«Ren: "What?"»
«Akari: "Before they took him."»
Her voice became quieter.
«Akari: "He smiled like everything was fine."»
Ren didn't answer. Akari looked away, fighting the uncomfortable feeling in her chest. She didn't know Naji. She had known him for less than a day. Yet somehow, watching him disappear into a CDA aircraft felt wrong. Ren placed a hand on her shoulder.
«Ren: "We'll find out what happens to him."»
Far from the city, the CDA had already begun examining what happened. A command room filled with officers watched recordings captured by surveillance drones positioned around the battlefield. The footage showed Naji's continuous repulsion field stopping incoming attacks, his Graviton Collapse crushing a target under concentrated gravitational force, his Repulsion Burst launching another attacker across the street, and finally the terrifying distortion of Singularity Break. The footage was replayed repeatedly. None of the analysts could agree on what they were seeing.
At the head of the table sat Kirima, leader of the CDA's Third Division. She watched the recordings without speaking. Her calm expression never changed, but her eyes followed every movement Naji made. When the footage reached his eyes, she stopped it.
«Officer: "You recognize the ability?"»
«Kirima: "No."»
The officer frowned.
«Officer: "It's gravity manipulation."»
«Kirima: "That's what it looks like."»
She restarted the recording and watched Naji's gaze track an incoming projectile.
«Kirima: "But his perception is different."»
The room became quiet.
«Kirima: "He isn't simply controlling gravity. He's seeing it."»
An hour later, Naji opened his eyes beneath a white ceiling. He stared upward for several seconds before slowly sitting up. His head felt heavy. His body felt strangely empty. Instinctively, he reached for the familiar sensation surrounding him.
Nothing.
Naji frowned.
Where did it go?
He tried again.
Still nothing.
His eyes lowered toward the restraints around his wrists before his fingers touched the metal collar around his neck.
«Naji: "So that's what stopped me."»
The door opened.
Kirima entered alone.
She carried a thin file and moved with the quiet confidence of someone who never needed to announce her authority. She sat opposite him and placed the file on the table.
«Kirima: "Naji Kang."»
«Naji: "That's me."»
«Kirima: "You are currently inside CDA interrogation quarters."»
Naji looked around.
«Naji: "I guessed."»
Kirima opened the file.
«Kirima: "Twenty years old. No confirmed biological parents. Raised by a guardian who accumulated substantial debt."»
Naji's expression became still.
«Kirima: "Your records indicate repeated physical abuse during childhood. You were also used to work off debts that were not originally yours."»
Naji looked down.
«Naji: "He wasn't a very good father."»
Kirima turned another page.
«Kirima: "He died."»
«Naji: "Yes."»
«Kirima: "And you inherited everything."»
«Naji: "The debt, mostly."»
Kirima studied him.
«Kirima: "How did you survive?"»
Naji shrugged.
«Naji: "I kept working."»
The answer was simple. Too simple. Kirima closed the file.
«Kirima: "Then tell me about your awakening."»
Naji leaned back.
«Naji: "The first one happened when I was almost dead."»
«Kirima: "And the second?"»
Naji blinked.
«Naji: "You know about that?"»
«Kirima: "Explain it."»
Naji thought for a moment.
«Naji: "I was almost dead again. I didn't have much strength left, so I pushed everything I had into staying alive."»
He looked at his hands.
«Naji: "Then something changed."»
Kirima's expression remained calm, but her attention sharpened.
«Kirima: "You experienced a second awakening."»
«Naji: "Apparently."»
«Kirima: "The CDA has never recorded one."»
Naji looked at her.
«Naji: "I didn't know that."»
Kirima stared at him for several seconds.
«Kirima: "Of course you didn't."»
The evaluation began soon afterward. Naji was taken to a reinforced chamber where his suppression collar was temporarily adjusted to permit controlled ability usage. He stood beneath several observation cameras while researchers prepared different tests. The first was simple: move a small metal sphere without touching it. Naji looked at the sphere, activated his strange gravity-themed eyes, and immediately became aware of every force acting upon it.
The researchers watched the sphere rise smoothly.
«Researcher: "Increase the distance."»
Naji did.
«Researcher: "Change direction."»
He did.
«Researcher: "Stop it."»
The sphere stopped instantly.
Kirima watched through the observation glass. Naji wasn't struggling. He wasn't guessing. His eyes seemed to give him a deeper understanding of the gravitational field around him, allowing him to manipulate it with increasingly precise control.
The next test involved his continuous repulsion field. A projectile fired toward him slowed the moment it entered his range. It didn't simply decelerate. It came almost completely to a halt before being expelled backward so violently that the cameras struggled to track it. To a human observer, the projectile seemed to vanish and reappear somewhere else. Naji remained still.
«Researcher: "Increase the velocity."»
Another projectile fired.
The same thing happened.
Then two.
Then five.
Then ten.
Naji adjusted his field without panicking. Every object that entered his range slowed, stopped, and was violently rejected. It wasn't Infinity. There was no endless distance between Naji and the attack. His ability actively interfered with motion, halted the object, and then sent it away at incredible speed.
Then came Graviton Collapse.
Naji extended one hand.
The air seemed to bend.
The target chamber groaned as gravity compressed around a single point. Metal buckled inward, alarms sounded, and the instruments immediately spiked.
«Researcher: "Output rising!"»
Naji released the technique.
The pressure disappeared.
Next came Repulsion Burst. Naji gathered force in front of himself and released it in a sudden explosion of gravitational repulsion. The reinforced target was launched backward with such force that the chamber shook.
Then came Singularity Break.
Naji became quiet.
His eyes sharpened.
Gravity twisted around him.
The attack formed with terrifying density before being released toward the reinforced target. The containment system screamed as the technique tore through the designated area, leaving the observation team frozen.
When it ended, Naji remained standing.
But his breathing had changed.
He was tired.
Not severely.
Just enough to notice.
The final evaluation was hand-to-hand combat.
Kirima entered the chamber.
«Naji: "You're fighting me?"»
«Kirima: "Yes."»
«Naji: "Abilities?"»
«Kirima: "Restricted."»
Naji smiled.
«Naji: "Okay."»
Kirima attacked first.
Her opening strike was fast enough to catch most opponents completely off guard. Naji barely slipped past it. He countered, but Kirima redirected his arm and struck his ribs. Naji stumbled backward.
He recovered.
She attacked again.
This time, he read her movement earlier.
The exchange became faster.
Punch.
Block.
Elbow.
Dodge.
Counter.
Kirima changed rhythm.
Naji adapted.
She feinted.
His eyes caught it.
She attempted to trap him against the wall.
He shifted before the trap closed.
Kirima's expression finally changed.
He's learning.
She increased the pressure.
Naji took a strike to the shoulder, corrected his stance, and immediately returned a clean counter. Kirima blocked it, but the force pushed her back half a step.
For the first time, she looked genuinely interested.
«Kirima: "You adapt quickly."»
«Naji: "I don't like making the same mistake twice."»
The fight continued until both finally separated. Naji was breathing heavily, sweat running down his face, but he remained upright. Kirima lowered her hands.
«Kirima: "Enough."»
Naji waited.
«Kirima: "You passed."»
At another location, Akari and Ren were still waiting for news.
«Akari: "Do you think he'll be okay?"»
«Ren: "I don't know."»
«Akari: "That's not reassuring."»
«Ren: "I'm not going to lie to you."»
Akari looked down.
«Akari: "He was weird."»
Ren smiled faintly.
«Ren: "Very."»
«Akari: "But..."»
She looked toward the facility.
«Akari: "I don't think he's a bad person."»
Ren nodded.
«Ren: "Neither do I."»
Back inside the evaluation chamber, Kirima approached Naji with the final report.
«Kirima: "You're officially a CDA cadet."»
Naji blinked.
«Naji: "Do cadets get food?"»
Kirima stared at him.
Naji smiled.
«Naji: "Just asking."»
Kirima turned and walked away, but her expression had changed.
The CDA had discovered his childhood abuse. They had discovered the debt. They had discovered his first awakening.
But the second awakening was something else entirely.
There was no record of it.
No precedent.
No explanation.
And Kirima couldn't shake the feeling that Naji himself didn't understand what he had become.
She looked back through the glass.
Naji was sitting alone, quietly examining his hands.
We thought we captured an unidentified mutant.
Kirima's eyes narrowed.
But what exactly did we bring into the CDA?
To Be Continued...