The GPS device handed over to the GDA flickered faintly in his left pocket. Last night too, he'd fallen asleep while watching that light. Morning of the fifth day since the transfer. Kai flew alongside Mark over the industrial district on the outskirts of Chicago. "[serious]What's the mission today" "A Flaxan invasion signal appeared. We came here last year too, didn't we, those guys" Flaxans—a machine civilization species that periodically invaded Earth from alternate dimensions. Silver humanoid machines, roughly two and a half meters tall. Individual units lacked autonomous thought, but the central AI learned from defeat data with each invasion. The content he'd read in the comics stuck in his mind. A rift tore open in the sky. From the vertical line of light, silver machines poured out one after another. Thirty. Forty. No, more than that. "[serious]Let's go" Mark charged straight in. A frontal assault, his usual fighting style. —But the drone sidestepped. Mark's fist cut through empty air. In that opening, three units circled from the flank, hammering his temple repeatedly. Bang, bang, bang. Mark was knocked back. "[surprised]What was that—" Kai stopped flying and surveyed the entire battlefield from above. There was a pattern to the drones' movements. Every time Mark swung his arm, they read the trajectory and shifted half a step. They'd recorded Mark's movements from the previous invasion and come prepared with countermeasures. That wasn't all. Among the swarm, there was clearly a central unit. Ten units around it formed a formation, moving in coordination. The center of the chest—only that spot had a different emission pattern. A command core. "[cold]Mark, watch my movements" Kai dove sharply. He flew in from the side to break the encirclement around Mark, then swung his right arm with full force at the core unit. Thud. A heavy impact sound. The core unit shattered. Immediately after, the ten surrounding units went dark simultaneously. "[surprised]Why did they all stop at once—" "[cold]The unit in the center is the command core. Crush that one first" "[serious]Got it. So we split up" The strategy worked. Mark dove into the remaining drones while doing exactly as Kai said—searching for the center of each formation and striking it. Each time a core was destroyed, the surrounding units shut down in a chain reaction. Kai repeated the same thing against another cluster. Five cores. Six. Seven. In less than twenty minutes, silver wreckage covered the industrial district's pavement. But—something nagged at the back of his mind and wouldn't go away. The Flaxan attack patterns he'd read in the comics. Today's drone movements deviated slightly from that. The learning speed felt too fast. It might be a small thing. But that "slight deviation" bothered him. (Are parts that don't match the original already appearing?) Thinking that, Kai descended to the pavement. --- A nearby community center had become a temporary shelter. Light leaked from the windows, and several voices came from inside. Outside, what looked like volunteers carried blankets and distributed water. When Kai and Mark approached, someone came out from the community center's entrance. An elderly man with a twisted ankle was on her back. She was a girl of modest height, but she supported the old man with steady steps. Her vivid crimson long hair swayed with each movement. She confirmed with the elderly man she'd set down, "Are you alright?" Then she looked up. Amber eyes met Kai's. "You were fighting too, weren't you" Her voice held no hesitation. "[gentle]Thank you so much" Kai couldn't say anything. Whether she had GDA registration, who she really was, whether she was from this city—she wasn't considering any of that. Her face showed only gratitude. Pure, straightforward gratitude. Five days since coming to this world. The GDA had suspected him. Cecil had appraised him. He and Mark were slowly building trust. This was the first time anyone had thanked him purely, without reservation. "[gentle]Wait a moment, are you alright?" She looked at Kai's left forearm. There was a scrape. From the earlier battle. She opened her volunteer bag and took out disinfectant and bandages. "[cold]It's fine, something like that—" "It'll only take a moment" He had no chance to refuse. The disinfectant stung. The bandage was wrapped carefully. A warmth spread through his chest. It was a little difficult not to let her notice. Mark stood a short distance away with his arms crossed, watching. He said nothing, but the corner of his mouth rose slightly. "[gentle]All done. Please don't overexert yourself" "[cold]…Thanks" It came out gruffly. But she smiled, dimples showing. Somehow, that was enough. --- Some time after leaving the community center, Kai's GPS device vibrated. A transmission from the GDA. Cecil's voice. "Machine Head's superhuman mercenaries are moving. A large-scale weapons deal is happening in the basement of an abandoned building downtown. Go immediately" Machine Head—the leader of a superhuman crime organization based in Chicago. His head was mechanized, and he moved an estimated five hundred million dollars annually through weapons trafficking. He constantly employed around ten superhuman mercenaries. Something caught in Kai's mind. The Machine Head battle was depicted in the comics around this timing, wasn't it? But the circumstances—the detailed flow, he couldn't remember. "[serious]Let's go, Kai" "[cold]…Yeah" There was wariness. But the grounds were thin. The information was too fragmented. They flew. Toward the abandoned building downtown. --- The entrance to the basement was open. Dark. The smell of concrete. No sign of equipment. No mountain of weapons. No sign of trading partners. Instead—eight people were waiting. Lined up in formation. "[cold]It's a trap" He shouted and simultaneously, the mercenaries moved. They split five and three. Five against Mark, three against Kai. The first mercenary raised his arm. The next instant, something burst inside his head. Ultrasonic waves. A frequency that struck the semicircular canals directly. He couldn't stand. Vision spun. His legs gave out. As his body tilted, a metal chain wrapped around his neck. From behind. The second mercenary. The chain tightened. He tried to tear it apart with strength. But his body axis was off, the dizziness prevented him from putting force into it. The third came from the front. A fist drove into his abdomen. Something burst from inside. The taste of blood spread in his mouth. He spat blood. His knees buckled. He was slammed to the ground. In the distance, Mark was shouting. But then a roar sounded, and a wall broke through. It went quiet. The chain dug into his neck. Vision wavered. Breathing was difficult. A speaker crackled. "[cold]We've already obtained the video data from the Flaxan battle. Your combat patterns, reaction speeds, weaknesses—we have it all. We can even predict what you'll do next" A mechanical voice. Emotionless. Like reading data aloud. Kai, consciousness fading, tried to trace back his memories of the comics. He searched for the flow of the Machine Head battle. How it progressed, what happened— The screen went white. Memory blurred. This was different. This development wasn't in the original. The weapons deal scenario, the GPS data usage, obtaining the Flaxan battle footage—by transferring to this world, history had changed. Machine Head's tactics had changed. The original flow didn't apply here. That pierced Kai before the pain did. It had been the weapon he'd held onto. The only advantage of knowing this world's future. Now, for the first time, it was completely broken. The chain squeezed his neck. Vision was painted black. Another presence approached from a distance. Multiple, heavy presences. The Guardians—Earth's strongest hero team was coming. Coming. But. Kai was already on the ground. A stain of blood spreading. The taste of iron in his mouth. Even if he knew the original story, if the original had changed—he had nothing left. Only that fear remained, sharp and clear at the edge of his fading consciousness.