Wee-woo, wee-woo.
The distant siren of an ambulance faded into the evening air.
There she was — Kara, cousin of Superman — driving through the city streets just after 5 PM. The golden sunlight streamed through the car window, casting warm streaks across her face. She reached for the coffee she'd bought earlier and took a slow sip, letting out a quiet sigh.
Then came a voice in her ear.
"Kara, do you copy?"
She tapped her earpiece. "Yep. Anything?"
"Turn right at the next street," said a man's voice, calm but alert. "I think we might have something."
"Okay," Kara replied, turning the wheel and guiding the van down a narrow side street. The neighborhood was nearly empty — just a few scattered buildings and overgrown lots. The sun was sinking fast, casting long shadows across the cracked pavement.
A soft yawn came from behind her.
The back door creaked open, and Janet — Kara's teammate — leaned into the front cabin, rubbing her eyes.
"Do you really think we're gonna find something out here?" she asked.
Kara kept her eyes on the road. "I don't know."
Suddenly, the voice crackled in her earpiece again.
"Okay, this is it. Park your car."
The vehicle ahead of them slowed to a stop — the man and his team had arrived.
Kara pulled over beside them. She and Janet stepped out, their boots hitting the pavement with a soft thud. Both of them grabbed their gear and loaded their weapons, eyes scanning the darkening street.
Ahead of them stood an old house — lights off, windows dark. It looked abandoned, or at least unwelcoming.
Kara narrowed her eyes. "Should we just… break in? I mean, wouldn't that be weird?"
Jake, the team leader, stepped up beside her, scanning the building.
"No," he said calmly. "We'll be quick. It's not like we're here to steal anything."
His voice was steady, but Kara could feel the tension beneath it — like they were walking into something bigger than they'd been told.
Everyone climbed over the fence and gathered silently in front of the house. The structure loomed dark and quiet.
"Hello? Is anybody here?" shouted Jacob, one of Jake's teammates.
Jake spun around. "Dude, what are you doing?"
"I'm just making sure no one's home," Jacob said, forcing a nervous laugh.
Jake sighed and moved to the front door. A moment later, it creaked open.
They stepped inside, flashlights sweeping across the dusty interior.
"Alright," Jake said, his voice low. "Split up. See what you can find."
Kara gave a short nod, then peeled off toward the living room.
The TV was on — but muted. Strange.
She narrowed her eyes and scanned the room. Her flashlight beam landed on a pile of papers spread across a desk in front of the screen. She stepped closer and picked them up.
Her eyes widened.
What is this…?
The pages were dense with printed text — something about military movements, surveillance protocols… And on the back was an image: soldiers standing in formation, and a word scrawled in red ink across the top.
"HERE."
"What?" Kara whispered.
Suddenly—
"Freeze! Freeze! Freeze!"
Janet's voice rang out from behind her.
Kara whipped around.
An old man stood just a few feet away, creeping toward her with a knife.
He froze when he saw Janet's gun aimed right at him.
"Ah!" the man yelped, stumbling back.
"You should always watch your back," Janet muttered, eyes still locked on the man. She tapped her earpiece. "We found someone."
She turned to the old man. "What are you doing here? Why were you trying to attack Kara?"
The man's voice trembled. "Why are you asking me that? You're the ones who broke into my house!"
"Shut up!" Janet snapped, her voice sharp. "I know you did something. Tell me everything you know."
The old man trembled, still clutching the knife. "What are you talking about? I… I didn't do anything! You're the ones who broke into my house—dressed in those stupid black suits and ridiculous pants, waving guns around!"
Kara stepped forward, holding up the papers she'd found. Her eyes were locked on him.
"Bullshit," she said flatly. "You were in the military. We found your documents. What is this?"
The man's gaze dropped. He sighed, shoulders sagging, voice still shaking.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Kara shook her head. "Try us."
He breathed heavily—once, twice. Then suddenly, he lunged forward, blade raised, aiming for her chest.
Kara didn't flinch.
In one fluid motion, she caught his wrist mid-air, twisted his arm behind his back, and slammed him against the wall. The knife clattered to the ground as she pinned him in place.
"Who sent you?" she growled.
The man's body trembled in her grip. "H-He told me not to say anything. Please… please don't kill me."
Janet stepped in, raising her gun again. Her voice was cold now, steady.
"Whoever sent you isn't going to protect you. We will. But only if you talk."
"You have no idea how terrifying that… that thing is," the man said, his voice trembling.
Kara's expression shifted. She released him immediately.
"Thing? What thing?"
Before he could answer, Jake's voice came through the earpiece.
"We found a body."
Janet's eyes went wide. She shoved the man back against the wall, gun pressed to his chest.
"Tell me. Now."
"I don't know what it is!" the man burst out. "It's like—like an alien! It's red, with these horrible eyes and razor-sharp teeth. It said if I didn't help it, it would… it would take my soul."
His voice cracked as he spoke faster, more frantic
.
"I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I didn't mean to kill them, I swear. Please—just let me go. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Just let me go…"
"Okay. Stop." Kara held up her hand. "That's enough. Let him go."
Janet hesitated.
Kara exhaled slowly, eyes locked on the man's broken expression.
"Maybe… maybe he's telling the truth."
"Okay," Kara said gently. "We need you to come with us. You'll be safe at our base — whatever that thing is, it won't be able to reach you there. Alright?"
They loaded him into the van and headed back to base.
The man sat in the backseat, hands tied, squeezed between Kara, Jake, and Janet. His clothes were tattered, stained, and smelled like he hadn't changed in days. His hair was wild — tangled and unwashed — and he hadn't stopped shaking since they left the house.
Jake watched him in silence for a few moments, then finally spoke.
"That alien… what else did it tell you?"
The man swallowed hard, eyes flicking nervously between them. "It… it told me to follow its orders. Do what it says, or it would kill me. But that's not all."
He hesitated.
"There was this… voice. Not exactly something I heard, but more like a feeling. A presence in my head. It was like—like it wasn't just threatening me. It was controlling me. Forcing me to obey."
As soon as the man mentioned the voice — that feeling inside his head — Kara froze.
A memory slammed into her.
Krypton.
She couldn't have been more than four or five years old. Just a curious little girl wandering away from her caretaker, chasing the glow of hallway lights through a part of the complex she wasn't supposed to be in.
She remembered the hallway — long, cold, and silent. Cells lined both sides like cages. It was some kind of detention area… or maybe a prison. Most of the things locked inside didn't seem real to her young mind. Shapes. Creatures. Some asleep, some angry. Some whispering in strange languages.
But one cell, way at the very end, made her stop.
There was something inside it — something red.
She couldn't remember the details, just that it had a face that scared her so badly she didn't even want to look. It didn't move, but somehow… it felt like it saw her. Like it was waiting.
Even as a child, she knew — that thing wasn't supposed to exist.
"Kara? You good?" Janet's voice broke through the memory.
Kara blinked back into the present. Janet was watching her from the opposite seat, concern written all over her face.
"Yeah," Kara muttered, shaking the memory off. "I'm good."
Just then, the van slowed, pulling up to the tall metal gates of their base. Guards approached, and the reinforced doors began to slide open.
The man was escorted into a secure glass containment cell.
One of the staff members closed the locking mechanism and turned to Kara.
"Until we figure out what's going on with him, we can't let him roam freely. That cell's the safest place — for him and for us."
Kara nodded silently.
She walked back to the briefing room and laid out the stack of documents she had recovered from the man's house. Jake, Janet, and the rest of the team gathered around as she spread them across the table.
They started flipping through the pages.
"Suspicious," Jake muttered, narrowing his eyes.
The documents were strange — military files, scattered notes, surveillance data. But then something caught their attention: a printed map.
The man's house was marked on it. Alongside it were several other buildings across the area. One building, in particular, stood out — it was circled in red ink.
Kara stared at it.
"Why this one?"
They exchanged looks.
Jake picked up the map and studied it. "I say we check it out."
Everyone nodded, heading for the exit.
But as they reached the door, Kara hesitated.
"Wait… shouldn't we ask him what this building is first?"
Jacob, one of Jake's teammates, shook his head.
"That guy? I wouldn't trust a word out of his mouth. Not after what happened."
Kara looked back toward the glass cell, her mind torn. The man was unstable — but what if he knew something they didn't?
Soon, they pulled up to the building.
"STAR Labs?" Jake muttered, stepping out of the vehicle.
"That name wasn't anywhere on the map," Jacob added, frowning. "Are we sure this is the right place?"
Kara studied the map again, comparing it to the GPS on her phone. "Based on the coordinates… yeah. This is it."
Jake exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Screw it. It's nighttime — probably not many people around. Hide your weapons, and don't engage unless someone gives you a reason. Got it?"
The team nodded.
As they approached the building, Janet glanced at him. "You sure we can just walk in like this?"
Jake gave her a sideways look. "I know someone who works here. We'll be fine."
The automatic doors slid open with a soft hiss.
The first floor was completely empty. Fluorescent lights hummed above, but no staff were in sight. No reception. No security.
The lobby felt… abandoned.
No one spoke as they moved quietly toward the elevator. The metal doors opened with a ding, and the team stepped inside.
Kara pressed the button for the sublevels.
The doors closed.
"Sublevels?" Janet asked, watching the numbers on the elevator screen tick downward.
Kara nodded. "If they're hiding something, it won't be on the main floors. In this case… I just went for the deepest one."
The elevator stopped with a dull ding. The doors slid open to reveal Sublevel 19.
The hallway beyond was dark and cold. Flickering emergency lights cast long shadows across the abandoned lab. Dust hung in the air. Equipment sat idle, half-covered in sheets, and the hum of old machinery echoed faintly from somewhere deeper inside.
Two corridors stretched out ahead.
"Alright," Jake said, glancing around. "Let's split up. Jacob, you're with me. Kara, go with Janet."
They nodded and split off.
Kara and Janet headed down the left hallway. The deeper they went, the stranger it felt. Glass tanks lined the walls. One held an egg, large and covered in a translucent membrane, suspended inside some kind of incubator. Another tank was filled with glowing green liquid, with strange wires and tubes snaking out of it.
"What is this place?" Janet whispered.
Kara didn't answer. She was scanning the room.
Then she saw it.
A pair of shoes, barely visible beneath a metal table… and they were moving.
"Janet—" Kara began, just as a man jumped out from behind the table, aiming a gun at them.
"Hands up!" he shouted, panic in his voice. "Who are you? Why are you here? What do you want?!"
Kara and Janet reacted instantly, pulling out their weapons and aiming back.
"Wait! We're not here to hurt you," Kara said, keeping her voice calm. "Just tell us what—"
Before she could finish, the man fired.
The shot missed Kara by inches.
Kara ducked, and Janet fired back, hitting a panel of wires connected to the green tank.
Sparks exploded. The lights cut out.
The room plunged into darkness.
"Damn it," Janet hissed, activating the flashlight on her weapon. In the shaky beam, the scientist reappeared, eyes wide with horror.
"What did you do?" he shouted, staring at the now-flickering tank. "You have no idea what you just freed!"
The lights began to flicker — on… off… on… off…
Then came the sound.
A deep, animalistic growl. Low. Echoing. Predatory.
Kara stepped forward, tense.
"What? What's in there?"
The scientist exhaled shakily. His voice was trembling. Not long after, he said, "Alien,"