Chapter 16 – When Silence Breaks
The rain came early that night.
Heavy, suffocating, the kind that made the air feel too still—like something dreadful was about to happen. The city's lights flickered across the wet pavement at West Terminal Dock, reflecting far more than just the water.
They reflected tension.
Fear.
And soon… war.
AMCU Deploys
An urgent comms alert rattled the steel walls of the tactical transport truck.
"Unit Alpha proceed. Multiple hostiles confirmed, metas included."
Agent Hunter checked his gauntlet display—heat signatures, weapons, no civilians evacuated yet. Lara stood several meters away, her gaze fixed forward, distant but composed. No one spoke to her. Not from distance. They knew the damage she could walk through… and survive.
She closed her eyes.
Breathe.
She listened. Somewhere beyond the rain, beyond the dock machinery, she heard a faint heartbeat. Rapid. Afraid.
A civilian. Still trapped.
She stepped out of the transport.
Orders weren't needed.
She moved.
Not as a soldier.
But as a warning.
A massive freight container rattled. The metal groaned under invisible pressure.
Then—BOOM.
A concussive blast ripped the doors open, sending them spiraling through the air.
El desastre stepped out.
Rain bent around him. Water vaporized where his boots touched the ground.
Behind him:
Fuego, arms lit like forge steel.
Razor, metal shards hovering in orbit around his body.
Masa, bulked up, skin like stone.
Dozens of gunmen spread out, fanning across the port.
El desastre scanned the AMCU formation.
"We warned you not to stand in our way."
No reply.
Only a nod from Hunter… before he raised his kinetic barrier.
The air trembling was the only warning.
CRAAAAAACK!
El desastre's punch sent a shockwave like a meteor strike.
Hunter braced. His barrier cracked like tempered glass under a hammer. He flew backward across the concrete, skidding nearly ten meters.
"GO!" he yelled mid-roll.
Fuego unleashed spiraling flames at the medics.
Razor flicked his fingers—metal fragments rotated into a storm and blasted toward AMCU agents.
Masa charged.
Falconer launched skyward.
Lara… ran straight through it all.
Her senses dialed, every heartbeat, every raindrop expanding into full clarity.
Miguel. Stay with me.
She reached Fuego before his firestorm hit the medics.
He turned. Too late.
Her shoulder slammed into his ribs—
CRUNCH.
He winced but ignited flames in desperate retaliation. They seared through her left arm instantly—flesh melting, tendon snapping.
She didn't stop.
Regeneration kicked in, rebuilding muscle even as she struck.
Her fist collided with his jaw.
BOOM.
He spiraled, hit a crane support.
Crater impact.
One more strike could end his life.
She paused.
Her breathing shaky.
I am not vengeance.
He collapsed, defeated but alive.
Wind shifted.
She turned slowly—
—and El Martillo was staring at her.
He stepped forward, cracking his knuckles.
"You should've finished him."
Lara held her stance.
"I don't kill unless there's no other way."
He smirked.
"There won't be one."
Then he launched himself at her.
Meanwhile…
Miles away, high above the city in a corporate-sponsored training building, Aiden stood alone in a bathroom, hands gripping the sink.
He had just finished a minor rescue news review, trying to see how people felt about their new "light."
He looked exhausted.
He splashed cold water on his face.
He stared at his reflection.
"What am I even trying to protect…?"
Then it hit him.
A psychic pulse.
Not words.
Fear.
Dozens at once.
Then hundreds.
Then hundreds more.
Images struck him in fragments—crowds screaming, fire bursting, concrete collapsing. Children crying. Gunshots. Shockwaves.
And a final sensation.
Hopelessness.
His breath caught.
He almost fell.
"No… no, not again."
He looked toward the window.
His eyes flared gold.
That's them. They're afraid. They're dying.
He didn't know who. He didn't know where.
He just knew he needed to go.
He burst from the bathroom, sprinting down the hallway.
Returning to the docks—
Falconer, clipped by Razor's metal storm, crashed into a water tank.
Hunter was struggling to keep Masa from breaking through containment lines.
Doctor Flux slowed time around stray bullets, diverting them from striking trapped civilians.
Lara fought El Martillo blow for blow, each strike generating shockwaves.
THUD
CRACK
WHUMMMM
Their impact rattled containers, splitting welds.
Nearby civilians screamed from behind barriers as shards of steel and flames burst too close.
One woman stumbled forward as the barricade split.
A broken support beam fell—
Lara saw her falling.
She stepped to help—
But El Martillo grabbed her arm and threw her through six stacked containers.
She crashed hard. But she stood again.
Before she could move—
There was a flash.
A dome of golden light enveloped the civilians.
They looked up.
Aiden descended into frame, eyes glowing, light pouring from his palms, rain evaporating around him.
He landed between the civilians and destruction.
His voice was low.
"This ends now."
El Martillo turned, intrigued.
"Hero…"
Aiden clenched his fists.
"…call me that after they're safe."