Sirens wailed in the distance.
Onnyx stood over the disarray he'd created, his breaths heavy and drawn—an audible testament to the energy he'd exerted. The shattered remnants of a power hub sparked behind him, the blackout cascading outward in ripples of chaos.
"After long last, step one's complete," he muttered.
A couple of days passed. The skies above this corner of the city had not cleared since the beginning of Onnyx's attack. A haze of soot and smoke hung like a curse over the blocks plunged into darkness.
He turned to the bodies of EPSA and RSAA agents, strewn across broken pavement and slumped against scorched barriers.
"No one can stop me," he said, raising his palm and clenching it into a fist. "The more they try… the more futile their attempts become." A dry laugh escaped his throat as he cracked his neck. "But who's to blame? They programmed me this way."
Suddenly—
The sounds of boots touching down on concrete. Cloaks flaring. The hum of Modi charging up. The clink of a trinket against metal. A strike team had arrived.
Zteel stepped forward, each of them radiating resolve.
Nyota's blue lightning cracked through the mist first, casting ghostly veins across the shadows. Kilo followed next, red flames licking his shoulders, painting the walls in flickering color. Sage moved in close behind, his face drawn, jaw tight, blue fire already simmering in his palms.
Aurora lingered just behind them, scanning the site with quiet intensity, her expression unreadable—stoic by choice. Her plasma hummed faintly at her fingertips, but her eyes moved with focus, absorbing every detail, locking her emotions behind calculation.
They said nothing at first. Just stared at the devastation.
"I'll be damned," Sage muttered, analyzing the scene. "The agents… I don't think some of them made it."
Nyota looked around at the destruction, breath catching slightly. The flames still clung to bodies nearby—silent, breathless faces consumed by the fallout. His eyes widened, unable to reconcile what he was seeing.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
Kilo stared at a nearby body, his voice low and flat. "They're… really gone."
Malik lingered near the rear—silent, unreadable. An icy mist drifted around him as he stepped forward, eyes fixed on Onnyx. Emerging from the shadows, he spoke evenly:
"He looks less human than before. Like he's turning into something else... some kind of superhuman. A monster."
He did. The man they once fought at one of the city's major four-way stops had changed. Onnyx's silhouette was broader now—more defined, more angular. Veins of faint energy pulsed just beneath his skin, like wires coiled under glass. His hoodie, once loose and ordinary, now clung to a body sharpened by unnatural growth—muscles that looked almost sculpted, but wrong.
Even his face had begun to shift. His eyes glowed faintly—not with fire or light, but with calculation. His skin seemed tauter, cleaner, unnervingly pristine. Like it had been repaired too many times. Like it wasn't really skin anymore.
Malik narrowed his eyes. "He's not just stronger. He's becoming something else."
Nyota clenched his fists, the blue lightning around him flickering—then twisting into a more refined, ethereal silver. The shift was smooth now, almost natural.
"There's no other choice," he said, voice tight. "This ends here." He stepped forward, sparks dancing at his heels. "We have to kill him now. No second chances."
Onnyx grinned, eyes flashing. "You again? My, my… how persistent." He loosened his shoulders, readying himself. "Let's see what I can learn this time."
The air shifted—denser now. The hum of activated Modi vibrated in the ground beneath them.
Without another word, Nyota lunged forward. A crack of silver lightning split the air as he surged ahead, vanishing in a flash and reappearing above Onnyx, his arm arcing back for a crushing strike.
Onnyx twisted just in time, catching Nyota's forearm. Sparks cascaded from the collision.
"You've gotten stronger," Onnyx said through gritted teeth, pushing back. "But strength alone won't fix what's broken."
"I'm not here to fix you," Nyota growled.
The shockwave from their clash burst outward. Kilo charged next, his body a blur of red fire.
"Cover Nyota!" Sage shouted, flanking to the right. "Force him to move—don't give him time to adapt!"
But Kilo didn't listen. He veered left, aiming for Onnyx's exposed side.
Sage cursed under his breath, shifting course to intercept Onnyx's counterstrike.
Aurora, still holding back, studied the angles. The team's rhythm was off—Sage and Kilo were mistimed. Their synergy frayed. She didn't say anything yet. But her hands tightened.
Malik stepped closer to her. "They're looking like a pair that hasn't fought together in a while," he murmured.
"They're slipping," Aurora replied, her eyes narrowing. "And Onnyx will see it."
Kilo's punch landed first—a flaming hook aimed at Onnyx's ribs—but Onnyx pivoted with almost effortless grace, his body folding back just enough to dodge the blow.
"You're out of sync," Onnyx sneered, twisting behind Kilo in a blur. "Lucky me! I absolutely love it."
A sharp jab of energy slammed into Kilo's back, sending him skidding across the concrete in a trail of red fire. Sage's blue flames arched in immediately after, forming a wall between Onnyx and the stunned Kilo.
"Damn it, Kilo—stick to the plan!" Sage barked, catching his brother's arm and dragging him upright.
"I had him!" Kilo growled, shaking Sage off.
"No," Aurora muttered under her breath, watching. "You didn't."
Onnyx wasted no time capitalizing on the disruption. He shot forward—deceptively fast—and slammed his knee into Sage's side, then spun low and swept Kilo's legs out from under him.
Nyota reappeared behind him in an instant—silver lightning crackling along his shoulders and arms. But this time, he wasn't empty-handed.
In a fluid motion, Nyota drew his blade. The curved edge shimmered faintly under the ambient pulses of lightning, its surface etched with faint channels that conducted the electrical current like veins through metal.
Silver arced down the length of the weapon—not wild, like his earlier lightning attacks, but smooth, controlled. Focused.
"How about this," Nyota whispered.
He struck.
A horizontal slash of lightning-infused steel tore through the space between them. Onnyx blocked it with his forearm, absorbing the blow with his kinetic field—but it staggered him. His eyes flicked to the sword.
"That's new," Onnyx said, backing off two steps. "You're learning pretty fast, actually."
Nyota didn't reply, narrowing his eyes.
As Onnyx prepared to retaliate, Nyota's blade lit brighter—veins of lightning crawling off the edge and wrapping up his arm, embedding themselves along his skin like circuitry. His body pulsed once. Then again.
Sage noticed it first. "Nyota—what are you doing?"
Nyota didn't answer right away. He advanced, blade humming softly. Silver light danced across the bodies of the fallen agents—and then flickered over Nyota's injuries, sealing small cuts and bruises as he moved.
"Cool," he said finally. "I'll call it, Lifewire."
"You're healing yourself?" Kilo asked, wide-eyed.
"It's like it knows how to fix what's broken," Nyota muttered. "Including me."
Onnyx frowned, sensing the shift. "That's dangerous."
"Good," Nyota said—and vanished again.
He reappeared just behind Onnyx this time, slashing upward. The blade didn't just cut, however. When it connected, a burst of silver lightning spread like a net across Onnyx's back, searing lines through his shirt and forcing him to stagger.
Aurora stepped forward now, hands still ready. "He's syncing with it faster than before," she said quietly to Malik. "Silver Lightning is becoming his norm."
Malik gave a slight nod, eyes still tracking every movement. "Then he better master it fast. Because Onnyx just got serious."
And he had.
Onnyx's body flared with dark energy—his own Modus accelerating as he absorbed and redistributed kinetic force from the hits he'd taken. The ground beneath his feet cracked as he launched forward, barreling toward Nyota like a missile.
Nyota raised his sword—and their powers collided in a blinding flash of silver and black.
The clash lit up the darkened warehouse, silver lightning surging from Nyota's blade as it met Onnyx's seething mass of black energy. Sparks erupted across the concrete floor, dancing through broken glass and twisted steel. The impact echoed like thunder inside the ruined power hub, its scorched walls groaning beneath the pressure.
Aurora narrowed her eyes, watching Onnyx's limbs shift—veins of ink-like matter threading along his arms, solidifying, recoding.
"He's evolving mid-fight," she said quietly.
Malik observed beside her, the frost still coiling around his boots. "He's studying us, too. Every move, every strike. He's learning how to break us apart."
"And he looks… different. The structure of his face. It's changing." Her voice tightened. "That's not just battle damage. It's adaptation."
"Some kind of parasitic Modus?" Malik murmured. "Or fusion of multiple?"
Aurora didn't answer. Her gaze never left Onnyx.
Suddenly, Nyota's balance slipped.
Onnyx roared and slammed into him with a brutal shoulder strike, sending Nyota crashing through a collapsed wall and out into the open street beyond the hub. Asphalt cracked beneath him as he rolled to a stop, barely managing to keep hold of his sword. Silver sparks arced up in spasms along his back as he tried to rise.
"Nyota!" Sage shouted, running toward the breach.
But Aurora was already in motion.
Plasma surged across her arms in brilliant streams, solidifying into a weapon—her favored bluish-green chained-sickle kusarigama coiled in hand. She vaulted through the hole in the wall and into the street, her chain catching on a rusted traffic light to sling her forward with velocity.
Malik vanished.
He reappeared beside Onnyx in a plume of cold mist, katana drawn, frost trailing from its edge. His blade lashed out with perfect efficiency, aimed to pierce Onnyx's ribs just as Aurora's weighted chain wrapped around Onnyx's wrist to pull his attention away.
But Onnyx pivoted impossibly fast.
He deflected Malik's strike with a blackened forearm, then twisted his body to hurl Aurora by the chain into a nearby wrecked car. Metal crumpled beneath her, though she flipped back to her feet with a hiss of pain.
Nyota, still on one knee, used the moment to lurch forward again—his silver lightning flaring—but he was intercepted. Onnyx slammed him into the hood of the same car Aurora had struck, cracking the windshield.
Sage and Kilo burst out of the hub, flames trailing. Blue and red tore across the ruined street like competing storms—uncontrolled and clashing.
Sage ducked low, launching a jet of blue fire toward Onnyx's flank. Kilo surged in from the opposite side, red flames flaring behind him like a comet's tail. But instead of cornering their target, they collided mid-attack—Kilo's shoulder clipping Sage, throwing off his aim.
Sage snapped, backpedaling to steady himself. "Do you ever think before you charge?!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize your way of getting tossed around was the only strategy," Kilo fired back, deflecting a bolt of black energy with a swipe of his arm. "Maybe if you'd stop trying to lead like it's a solo act—"
"Because you keep screwing up coordination!" Sage growled. "It's like fighting with a wild inferno. No control, just chaos!"
Kilo's flames flared higher, his voice rising with them. "Yeah? Well maybe if you'd stop overthinking every damn step, I wouldn't have to improvise!"
Malik flinched. "This is painful to watch."
"Improvising doesn't mean stepping on your own team!"
"Oh really? Because from where I'm standing, you haven't done anything but simmer and scold!"
They both lunged again—this time toward Onnyx, who twisted to avoid their messy double strike. Their flames crossed paths and exploded in a burst of superheated air, throwing both brothers back against cracked concrete.
Onnyx grinned as the brothers fumbled, clearly enjoying the chaos.
Aurora leapt in, landing beside Malik with a grim expression. Her voice was tight, controlled—sharp enough to cut glass.
"That's enough!" she shouted. "Get it together! Now!"
The street fell silent for a moment under the weight of her words—save for the crackle of electricity, the hiss of steam from ruptured pavement, and the quiet, low laugh building in Onnyx's throat.
"You're not just fighting each other—you're compromising the entire formation! Do you even hear yourselves?! Nyota's pinned, and you're throwing tantrums like we're back in training! Grow up!"
Tearing forward again—her kusarigama fading into twin, bluish-green plasma knuckles that pulsed at her fists—she concluded, "We don't have time for your sibling drama—either fight like you mean it, or get out of the way."
She ducked low, weaving between blasts as she closed the distance to Onnyx once more—fighting like the words she'd shouted had burned her fuse short.
Sage and Kilo stood stunned in the echo of her voice.
For a split second, neither moved.
Then a crushing burst of dark energy sent Nyota flying across the pavement.
"Nyota!" Kilo shouted, lunging after him. He directed back to Sage, "Stop getting in my way!"
Nyota hit the ground hard, his limbs locking under Onnyx's gravitational hold. Black rings flared across his chest, slamming him flat and pinning him beneath their weight.
Onnyx's voice rang out through the smoke. "Quick, but not quick enough."
Sage clenched his fists, his eyes darting between Kilo and their fallen teammate. "Damn it." He followed behind Kilo. "I'm not the one throwing wild swings and hoping it works."
"And I'm not the one hesitating every ten seconds!"
"Focus!" Sage snapped. "We do this together."
Kilo growled—but this time, he didn't argue.
They moved at once.
Blue flames erupted around Sage, spiraling in a tight circle that bloomed into a rising wall of searing fire—Sweltering Shield. The intense heat deflected Onnyx's shadow projectiles, turning them to ash mid-air as the flames adjusted with each incoming strike.
From Kilo's chest outward, red fire surged—Dragon Shade igniting like a burning serpent winding around his frame. The flames flared with every step, trailing in heated archs as Kilo pushed forward. His eyes locked with Sage's for a moment. They didn't speak—but their timing clicked.
Sage dropped into the left flank.
Kilo surged into the right.
Together, they crashed into Onnyx's binding force, their dual flames clashing and intertwining in a violent burst of red and blue. The pressure around Nyota cracked—then shattered.
Freed, Nyota gasped as his body tensed. He rolled to one knee, lightning lancing across his shoulders. The silver had begun to fade—returning to the fierce, focused hue of his usual blue. He rose slowly, sword still in hand, chest rising and falling with ragged breath.
They pulled it off.
His thoughts churned—quiet but steady.
They're fighting like brothers again. Finally.
Aurora's holding her own. Malik's keeping pace. But… it's not enough.
Onnyx—he's adapting. Every move we make, he's learning. Reading us. Twisting our own strategies against us.
And this place… this whole city block… it's barely holding together.
Nyota's grip tightened on his sword.
This can't drag on much longer.
He looked around at the team—worn, determined, still pushing.
Then at Onnyx—cracked grin, eyes alive with dark power, no sign of slowing.
We've got one shot. And we better take it before he outpaces us all.
He raised his free hand, lightning pulsing along his forearm like a living current.
"Blue Lightning MO: Polarity!"
A deafening crack split the air as a surge of electricity exploded outward from his core. Arcs of cobalt lightning wrapped around him in a tight, spiraling shell—then flared out into a pulsing electromagnetic field. The ground beneath him sparked and sizzled as the energy licked across the concrete, bolts snapping outward in every direction.
The very air vibrated.
A brilliant dome of living lightning crowned his stance as he stood tall once more.
"I'm back," he said under his breath, blue lightning flaring in a radiant pulse from his skin. "Let's end this."