Consciousness returned when the white ceiling came into view. The fluorescent light was harsh. His eyes ached. Kai tried to sit up—and in that instant, a sharp pain tore through his right chest. "—ugh" No sound came out. His ribs. Broken. Three of them. From last night's fight, when one of the mercenaries drove a fist into his abdomen—his body remembered that moment with perfect clarity. His left arm was immobilized from the shoulder by a brace. Dislocated. Something was pressed against his neck, and when he tried to touch it, his fingertips felt bandages. Marks from being choked by a chain, probably. He gave up and collapsed back onto the bed. Stared at the ceiling. This was a GDA medical facility. The wall material, the angle of the lighting, the hardness of the bed—everything carried the atmosphere of that underground facility. The Guardians of the Globe had come. He'd been rescued. Which meant he was here now. Slowly, moving only his neck, he looked at the bed beside him. Mark lay there with an oxygen mask still on his face. He wasn't moving. His chest rose and fell, so he was alive. But his eyes remained closed. A medical staff member stood quietly, checking the monitors, continuing treatment without a word. "...Mark" He spoke it aloud, but there was no response. Of course not. He was unconscious. Kai's gaze returned to the ceiling. He replayed last night in his head. The basement of an abandoned building. Eight people waiting in ambush. Sound waves, chains, fists—a perfectly calculated trap. They'd obtained video data from the Flaxan battle and read through all of their combat patterns. Machine Head had. Since Kai arrived through transfer, history had changed. The knowledge from the original work was already starting to diverge. He'd noticed it, and yet—somewhere, he'd still believed that maybe the basic flow wouldn't change. That naivety had been beaten out of him last night. (It's my fault Mark is...) Before his thoughts could spiral darker, footsteps echoed from the hallway. --- The door opened, and Cecil Stedman entered. A face marked by burn scars. Glasses. A suit. The same face as always. Eyes that revealed no emotion, he scanned the hospital room once before standing beside Kai's bed. He didn't use the chair. He stood, looking down as he spoke. "[cold]I've been analyzing data for three days" That was his opening. "Using the day you transferred as a baseline, I compared data from before and after. Flaxan invasion frequency—what averaged once every forty-two days before you arrived has doubled to once every twenty-one days since you came. Machine Head's activity—for the past eighteen months they'd been restraining large-scale operations, but they became dramatically active the day after you arrived. Both of these points are statistically significant" Kai had nothing to say. There were no words to counter with. Because they were numbers. Because they were facts. "There's a possibility you're causing some kind of disturbance in this world" "[cold]...Can you prove that?" "I can't. That's why I said possibility" Cecil pulled out a single sheet of paper and placed it on the bedside table. "GDA's ability analysis team has completed a detailed analysis of your ability signature. It doesn't match any of the twenty-three known classifications. Not Viltrumite-derived. Not Earth-origin mutation. It doesn't fit any known extraterrestrial category" A pause. "In other words—there's a high probability you're an existence deliberately designed and created by someone. You were given power and sent here for some purpose" Kai's mind went white. Someone. For some purpose. Created him? Something inside Kai's chest made a sound like breaking. Not the pain of his fractured ribs, but something deeper, further inside. "[cold]Starting today, I'm changing your movement restrictions. You'll be transferred to a private room within GDA facilities. No windows, surveillance cameras installed. No solo activity until Mark wakes up. Your temporary residence is confiscated" "Wait a second—" Cecil was already moving, heading toward the door. He didn't look back. "[cold]This decision is final" The door closed. Kai remained staring at the ceiling, unable to move. --- In the afternoon, two staff members came and said, "It's time to move." Just standing up from the bed made his fractured ribs creak. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed the IV stand and made his way into the hallway. Down in the elevator. Further back, deeper down. When the lighting changed from white to a yellowish tone, a staff member opened a single door. The room was about six tatami mats in size. A bed. A desk. A bottle of water. That was all. Small cameras were embedded in the four corners of the walls. One in the ceiling too. No window. No clock. The moment he entered this room, he lost all sense of what time it was. "[serious]If you need anything, press the call button" The staff member left, and the door closed. Kai pressed his back against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor. The cameras were watching him. Right now, at this very moment, someone somewhere was watching the feed. In the basement of Washington D.C., in the GDA headquarters' monitoring room. He had power. He could fly. If he punched, he could break through walls. But what did any of that matter? If he was a "created existence"—if whoever gave him power had sent him here for some purpose—then was everything he thought he'd done of his own will actually just part of that someone's scenario? He hugged his knees. Lowered his head. The knowledge from the original work no longer applied. Mark was unconscious. Cecil saw him as a threat. Amber had no way to reach this place. He was completely alone. The worst thing that could happen to the Guardians flashed through his mind. The moment Omni-Man pulled the trigger. That scene he'd read in the comics. He knew it. But there was nothing he could do. If history was changing, then the timing he was supposed to know about would change too. He couldn't read where or when things would happen anymore. Quietly, silently, tears fell. He bit his lip to keep from making a sound. There was no point in crying out. It would only be captured on camera. He wanted to go back to his original world. That thought alone circled endlessly through his mind. --- With no change in light in the room, he couldn't tell when night fell. When he woke—or perhaps had never truly slept—Kai was sitting on the edge of the bed when footsteps sounded in the hallway. Heavy footsteps. Approaching slowly at a steady pace. Not the light steps of staff. Something different. The weight was completely different. Every hair on Kai's body stood on end. The door opened. The man who entered was dressed normally. He looked to be in his forties, tall. Black hair streaked with silver, a vertical scar running down the left side of his face. Golden eyes regarded Kai quietly. Nolan Grayson. Omni-Man. The most dangerous being in this world was now standing in a six-tatami room. Kai couldn't bring himself to stand. He remained sitting on the edge of the bed, his legs refusing to move. "[gentle]My son seems to be in your debt" His voice was gentle. Like an ordinary father's. But his eyes weren't smiling. Those golden eyes were quietly taking the measure of everything about Kai. Nolan approached slowly. One step. Two steps. Kai couldn't run, couldn't stand, couldn't speak. He could only watch. Nolan placed a hand on Kai's shoulder. In that instant. From within, his ribs creaked. "—ugh" A scream rose to his throat. He suppressed it with all his strength. Through gritted teeth, only thin breathing escaped. The weight of the hand on his shoulder reached directly to where his immobilized ribs were. He wasn't pressing. Just resting his hand there. And still, the bones sang. This was the weight of a pure-blooded Viltrumite. "[gentle]Take care of Mark for me" With only that, the hand lifted. Nolan turned and walked toward the door without looking back. The door closed. Kai heard the footsteps receding down the hallway. He lay on the bed, unable to stop the trembling that spread through his entire body. (That hand's weight...) Just resting on his shoulder. No force applied at all. And his bones had sung. His power meant nothing—absolutely nothing—before that man. --- Unable to stop trembling, Kai continued staring at the ceiling. Omni-Man had come to confirm something. What had he confirmed? Kai's threat level? His influence on Mark? Or something else entirely? The worst thing that could happen to the Guardians was coming. And before it did, he was locked away here, and Mark wouldn't wake up. The original flow had changed. He couldn't predict where or how it would break. He couldn't read anything anymore. (What am I even here for?) That question grew heavier in the dark room. Then—suddenly, a voice replayed in his mind. A bright voice. Outside the community center, carrying an elderly man on her back. Vivid crimson hair. Amber-colored eyes. Thank you so much. That's what Amber had said. With unwavering conviction. Whether he had GDA registration, what his true identity was—none of it mattered. She'd simply said it. Kai closed his eyes. That one phrase had been genuine. No doubt about it. No calculation, no politics. Just gratitude. No matter what his power's origin was. No matter if he was created by someone. The fact that he'd risked his body that day was real, and Amber had witnessed it. Kai slowly clenched his fist. The trembling was still there. His ribs still creaked. Cameras watched from all four directions. But he couldn't disappear here. When Mark woke up—for Kai to still be here, he had to survive this night. No answers had come. Nothing had changed. And yet, something that had been fading inside Kai's chest flickered back to life—thin, but unmistakably real.