The door swings open with a sharp creak, and Fedora strides into the adjoining room, heels clicking crisply against the cracked tile floor. The goon behind him follows close, footsteps heavier, more uncertain—like he’s not entirely sure what they’re walking into.

  “I told you to scare him a little,” Fedora begins, voice low and edged with irritation. His words trail off the second he notices them—his two men, slumped on the floor, very much unconscious… or worse.

  “Not hospitalize him,” he finishes flatly.

  The door slams shut behind them with an echoing BANG. Both men freeze for the briefest of heartbeats.

  From behind it, Akio steps into view, half-silhouetted by the dusty light cutting through the broken blinds. He’s holding a pistol awkwardly in both hands, like he’s never quite made peace with the idea of firing one. His expression is grim, controlled, but there’s a glint behind his eyes—something bright and volatile.

  Fedora stiffens, caught off guard. “Clever,” he admits, adjusting his cuffs without missing a beat. “I’ll admit, I was fooled.”

  He lifts a hand subtly, gesturing for the goon beside him to move forward.

  “I wouldn’t,” Akio warns, voice calm. He tilts the gun slightly. “I’m so terrible with this thing, I'm actually dangerous.”

  The thug hesitates. Fedora arches a brow, skeptical.

  “I’m sure you think you are.” he drawls.

  Akio fires.

  The report of the gun is deafening in the cramped room. The bullet whips past the thug’s head, grazing his ear. A spurt of blood arcs into the air, followed by a shriek of pain. The thug drops to his knees, clutching the side of his head, eyes wide with shock as blood seeps between his fingers.

  Akio tosses a pair of steel handcuffs at him, letting them clatter to the ground.

  “Please,” Akio says, gesturing with the gun. “Cuff yourself to that pole. The one behind you. Now.”

  Whimpering, the man obeys. His trembling, bloody fingers fumble with the cuffs before finally securing them around the base of a rusted support beam. The metal clicks shut, and the thug slumps in defeat, still groaning softly.

  Fedora gives a small, impressed nod. “Well. That was unexpected.”

  “That was supposed to be a warning shot,” Akio says, a little too sincerely.

  Fedora glances at the wounded man, whose ear is now a ragged mess. “That’s the second earlobe you’ve claimed today.”

  Akio shrugs. “Personal record.”

  “You realize my men heard that gunshot, don’t you?” Fedora’s smile is calm, almost amused. He adjusts the lapel of his coat like they’re having a conversation over coffee, not in the middle of a hostage standoff.

  Akio smirks, stepping further into the room. “I was counting on it.”

  ~~~

  The air in the storeroom is stale—thick with the scent of sweat, metal, and blood.

  Jenny paces the narrow space like a caged animal, her arms crossed tight over her chest, eyes darting to the untouched transfusion kit, in the corner by the wall. Striding over to the door—solid steel and locked tight, she pounds her fist against it with increasing urgency.

  “John, let me out of here!” she shouts.

  A voice responds from the other side, muffled but unsympathetic. “He said not to open the door until he returned.”

  She slams both palms into the door. “Yeah, well, he’s a piece of shit!”

  Silence.

  Her breath comes shallow now, head slumped against the cold metal. The frustration gives way to something worse—helplessness. She closes her eyes, willing herself to be somewhere else, anywhere else.

  Then a voice, soft and unexpected, breaks the silence from within the room.

  “Claustrophobic?”

  The nurse stiffens.

  Her eyes snap open. Slowly, mechanically, she turns around.

  Alex sits in the far corner of the room like a child on a playground swing—knees pulled up on the chair, arms draped casually over them. The ropes that once held her are no longer intact. They lie shredded at her feet, mere threads of what they used to be.

  Alex offers a small, knowing smile. “Me too.”

  She rises fluidly, movements slow but deliberate. Jenny recoils instinctively, pressing herself flat against the wall like she might melt into it if she tries hard enough.

  “I don’t—I didn’t…” she stammers.

  But Alex is already at the door, one hand resting lightly against the surface. She glances back, finger raised to her lips in a gentle hush.

  “Shh.”

  She knocks.

  A beat.

  “Listen lady—” the thug outside begins.

  He never finishes.

  Alex’s hand blasts through the steel as if it were tissue paper, a sickening crunch echoing from the other side as her fingers wrap around a throat. A strangled gasp, followed by flailing limbs.

  Inside the room, Alex doesn’t flinch. Her eyes stay locked on the nurse, who watches in paralyzed horror. They wait together, as the muffled struggle dies down into twitching silence.

  Alex tilts her head. “Took a while.”

  Then, with a grunt of effort, she pulls.

  The shriek of tearing metal rips through the air as the entire door wrenches free from its hinges. Bolts snap, steel groans—and then with a final crack, it’s loose. Still attached to the limp, lifeless body of the guard.

  She tosses it all aside in one motion, as though discarding a crumpled piece of paper. The door crashes into the wall across the hall with a thunderous clang, the body flopping bonelessly beside it.

  Alex turns to the nurse, tucking a wayward strand of hair behind the woman's ear. “You can thank me on the way.”

  Before Jenny can speak, Alex grabs her by the collar and drags her forward—back into the chaos, and whatever waits on the other side of the ruined door.

  ~~~

  The tension crackles in the air as Akio tightens his grip on Fedora’s collar, the barrel of his gun pressed firmly against the back of Fedora’s head. The thugs surrounding him freeze—unsure, unwilling to make a move.

  Akio’s voice is a low growl, smooth with the edge of a threat. “Do you mind?”

  The men hesitate, their eyes flickering from Akio to the weapon inches from Fedora’s skull. The stillness is suffocating.

  Fedora, face pale with fear but attempting to keep his composure, hisses through clenched teeth, “Do as he says, goddammit!”

  The thugs finally part, creating a narrow path for Akio and his captive to move through. The air seems to thicken with the promise of violence, but the soldiers stay back, not daring to act. Akio doesn’t miss the opportunity to glance over his shoulder, his eyes cold—any one of them would be dead in an instant if they made the wrong move.

  ~~~

  In another part of the mill, chaos reigns.

  Alex moves like a blur, her body twisting and weaving, narrowly avoiding a barrage of bullets. The air rings with the sharp crack of gunfire, but she’s faster—too fast. She slams one thug’s face into a steel beam, watches another crumple beneath a well-placed kick to the ribs, and her hands dart out to take down another with a swift, bone-crushing chop to the neck.

  Bodies fall like ragdolls, unconscious and sprawled across the floor in a tangled mess of limbs. Alex stands among them, a smirk curling at the corner of her lips, victorious in her effortless carnage. She wipes the back of her hand across the blood on her nose, looking down at the pile of defeated foes with a satisfied glance.

  “Alright, sweetheart,” she mutters, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Time to go.”

  From the shadows, the nurse timidly steps into view, her face pale and wide-eyed with a mixture of awe and terror. She hesitates, then takes a tentative step forward, her feet dragging. She’s shaken—clearly rattled by the destruction around her, but it’s clear now that there’s no turning back.

  Alex doesn’t give her a moment to gather her bearings. She grabs the nurse by the collar once again, pulling her forward with a rough yank.

  “Move it,” Alex snaps, her grip unforgiving as she drags the woman toward the passage. There’s no time for questions, no time for explanations. Only the sound of boots slapping against the cold concrete floor as they race toward whatever comes next.

  ~~~

  The tension in the room is suffocating as Alex, Jenny, Akio, and Fedora finally converge in the center of the common area. Around them, the remaining thugs form a tight ring, their weapons glinting in the dim light. It feels like a standoff, the air thick with the impending violence.

  Alex eyes Akio as if she’s just noticed him, her brows furrowing. “Akio?”

  Akio looks back, his face momentarily shifting from surprise to a smirk. “Alex?”

  The gun in his hand is still pointed at Fedora's skull, his stance cautious, as if anticipating trouble. Alex can’t help the quirk of a smile as she eyes the weapon in his grip.

  “Why do you have a gun?” she asks, her voice laced with disbelief and just a tinge of fright. She had witnessed first hand the horrors Akio could accidentally accomplish with a gun.

  Akio shrugs, the casual movement belying the tension in the room. “I was coming to save you!”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Alex’s eyebrow rises. “Really? I was coming to save you.”

  Akio rolls his eyes, a slight chuckle escaping him. “Oh, come on. I electrocuted some poor idiot, and shot another guy’s ear off.”

  Alex’s lips curl into a wry grin. “Wow, all I did was kidnap this lady.”

  The nurse, who’s still shaking and clutching her sleeve, adds her voice from behind Alex. “You strangled the man watching the door.”

  Alex shoots her a glare but doesn’t let it shake her composure. “Okay, and killed that guy.”

  The nurse continues, clearly rattled by everything happening. “And the people you killed on the way here?”

  Alex narrows her eyes. “That’s enough out of you.”

  Akio, clearly tired of the back-and-forth, glances over at Alex. “Any ideas on how we get out of here?”

  Alex glances at the thugs, the tight ring of men surrounding them. She crosses her arms, assessing the situation. “I’m thinking. You?”

  Akio shrugs, his expression resigned. “I’m out of juice.”

  Alex groans, her patience wearing thin. “This is why I told you to head to the Campbell’s.”

  Akio raises a hand in mock defense, gun angling every which way. The thugs do well to duck at the sight. “I was on my way there, when this happened.”

  Alex’s glare could cut glass. “If you’d left when I told you to—”

  “Don’t start, Alex,” Akio interrupts, his voice low and warning. “This is not the place—”

  The interruption is short-lived as Fedora, who’s been silently observing the exchange, can’t hold his snide comment any longer. “How has someone not killed the both of you yet?”

  Akio whips around, his hand tightening on his gun. “Shut up!”

  Alex, who’s been simmering with frustration, doesn’t hesitate either. “Shut up, John!”

  Akio looks taken aback, a flicker of surprise crossing his face. “His name is John?”

  Alex smirks, her eyes flashing with mischief. “I just recently learned it.”

  Fedora, now clearly irritated, pushes forward. “Over 50 men surrounding you, all armed to the teeth, and somehow you still find the time to bicker?”

  There’s a beat. Then Akio’s lips twitch, a sharp grin forming on his face. “Armed to the teeth, you said?”

  Alex shifts her stance, glancing around at the thugs. “With guns.”

  Without warning, Akio swings his gun up, the butt of it connecting with Fedora’s head with a sickening thud. The man crumples to the floor in an instant, dropping like a ragdoll.

  Akio glances at Alex, his expression one of smug satisfaction. “I believe he just solved our problem for us, Alex.”

  Alex doesn’t break stride, barely even acknowledging the unconscious man. “We’ll have to thank him later.”

  Fedora, still conscious but dazed, glares up at them, anger flashing in his eyes. “What are you waiting for? Shoot them!”

  But before any of the thugs can react, their guns—along with Akio’s—levitate into the air, as though drawn by some invisible force. The weapons hang suspended above them, floating in a neat pile, like some twisted version of a magic trick gone wrong.

  Akio cracks his knuckles with a dramatic flair, stretching his arms out as he looks over the thugs. His smirk widens. “So... who’s first?”

  The thugs stand frozen for a long moment, eyes wide with shock and confusion. The tension in the room could cut through stone, but then Akio’s voice slices through the air again, sharp and laced with threat.

  “Come on,” he taunts, a spark of mischief in his gaze. “Don’t all rush at once.”

  The chaos erupts in an instant. Alex and Akio move like clockwork, a blur of violence and precision, each blow landing with a sickening thud. Akio’s fists fly, his body a weapon in its own right as he fends off thug after thug. Alex is no less fierce—kicks that land with the force of a battering ram, punches that leave men crumpled in their wake. The thugs fall like flies, their bodies piling up in a scene of carnage.

  In the midst of the melee, Jenny watches, panic flickering in her eyes, but in the heat of battle, her gaze shifts toward the far corner. She moves, slipping through the chaos unnoticed, her body a shadow among the bodies of the fallen.

  Fedora—John’s eyes burn with fury, his breath ragged as he glares at the chaos around him. Then, in a sudden, brutal movement, he produces a syringe from his pocket, filled with a thick, yellow liquid. He plunges it into his arm with a vicious snarl, a sickening hiss escaping as the needle drives home.

  He howls in pain, his muscles spasming violently. The blood in his veins seems to boil, turning his skin a sickly shade of red. His body starts to twist and shift, bones cracking and reforming as the transformation takes hold.

  Akio and Alex freeze in their tracks, stunned by the grotesque change unfolding before them. Even the thugs stop, their gazes drawn to the monstrous figure.

  “It only lasts a couple of hours. I intend to make the best of it.”

  He stretches, flexing his new, monstrous form. His skin ripples like something unnatural, his teeth sharp, his eyes glowing with animalistic rage.

  Alex retreats a few steps, her gaze narrowing. Fedora grins wider, his savage, bestial instincts kicking in. He lunges toward her, faster than she expected.

  “As much as I’d have loved the immortality thing,” He taunts, honest to God claws scraping painfully across the wall, “I suppose I’ll just have to settle for a lifetime supply of your blood.”

  Alex doesn’t flinch. Instead, her stance shifts, prepared for the oncoming fight. “Come on and take it, then.”

  Fedora growls and charges at her.

  The world explodes into movement.

  Akio ks back to fighting, his focus sharp, muscles honed from the endless rounds of combat. He’s taken down thug after thug with ruthless efficiency, slamming one man into the wall and headbutting another. But his eyes flick to Alex as the sounds of violence intensify.

  Fedora’s speed catches her off-guard, his form a blur as he swings a kick that sends her flying into the opposite wall. She crashes with a bone-shaking thud, pain lancing through her body, but she doesn’t waste a second before springing to her feet.

  Fedora’s rage is unrelenting. He’s on her in an instant, his blows coming fast and heavy. Each strike lands with a sickening crack, her body absorbing the punishment.

  As Alex fights for her life, the weapons she’d flung into the air tremble, barely holding their shape with each brutal impact. One thug reaches for his gun, but the weapon floats just out of reach, taunting him.

  Alex blocks another blow, this time catching Fedora’s fist mid-air, her fingers locking around his arm. She uses the momentum to throw him hard across the room. Her body aches, bruises already forming, but she fights through it, standing tall despite the pain.

  Akio’s on a roll, taking down thugs left and right. One man’s arm snaps under Akio’s grip, his screams echoing as the thug crumbles. Another tries a sneak attack, but Akio spins, his boot connecting with the man mid-air. He drops like a stone.

  Fedora’s on his feet again, snarling in anger as Alex approaches, fury in her eyes.

  Her walk turns into a sprint, a blur of motion as she leaps toward him, a vicious kick aimed straight for his chest. He dodges, barely, rolling to the side with a fluid motion. A sickening crack sounds, and in a flash, a bone breaks from his arm and grows into a jagged, crude weapon.

  He swings the bone like a sword, aiming for Alex’s neck.

  Alex eyes the weapon. “That is disgusting.”

  She ducks and weaves, narrowly missing the blade as it cuts the air.

  Akio fights in the thick of it, effortlessly dispatching his attackers. One thug is locked in an armlock, his bones snapping like twigs as Akio yanks it to the side. Another attempts to sneak up on him, but Akio’s instincts are razor-sharp. He kicks the man mid-air, sending him flying backward.

  Alex makes her move, charging toward Frankendora with speed and intent. She leaps, coming down with a powerful blow—but Fedora dodges again, barely. He rolls to the side, his bone sword slashing through the air, but Alex is already gone, a blur of movement.

  She’s fast, but so is he. The bone catches her off-guard, tripping her. Alex crashes to the floor with a resounding thud, wind knocked out of her.

  Fedora’s foot presses against her throat before she can recover. The pressure constricts, making it harder for her to breathe, her vision starting to fade.

  The guns tremble as if waiting for a signal.

  Alex struggles, gasping for air, but she’s losing ground. The weight of his foot is too much, and her body is growing weaker.

  Akio’s eyes lock onto the chaos unfolding before him. He sees the danger—sees the bone blade raised—and without hesitation, he hurls the nearest broken chair. It slams into Fedora with a crack, staggering the man just long enough for Alex to twist out of his grip and drive him to the floor with a brutal slam.

  But Fedora is back up. His fury is limitless.

  Fury burns in his eyes, limitless and unyielding. He lifts the jagged bone like a divine punishment, aiming for her heart. Alex throws up a hand to shield herself.

  The weapon sinks into her palm with a sickening crunch of bone against flesh.

  Akio is on him in an instant, but Fedora smacks him away like he’s a fly,

  Alex gasps, the agony radiating through her arm as the bone drives deeper into her chest, pinning her to the ground. Around her, the floating weapons collapse, clattering to the floor in a mournful symphony. Her concentration breaks under the pain, the air charged with her struggle to hold on.

  Fedora looms over her, grinning. He leans in and presses the weapon deeper—slow, cruel—until the hilt crushes against her bloodied palm.

  "Well," he sneers, watching her writhe beneath him, "this was disappointing. Killing you doesn't even make me feel better."

  Alex wheezes, breath catching on laughter, raw and rattling. Fedora’s smile falters, confused by her defiance. “What is funny?”

  “Y-y-you…” She stammers, breath coming out in painful wheezes “W-wrong side.”

  Fedora frowns, unsure if she’s mocking him or delirious.

  “What?”

  Akio’s voice comes from behind him, cold and cutting like steel. “Her heart’s on the right side.”

  Fedora barely turns before Akio grabs his head with one hand—revealing three syringes in the other. He jams them into Fedora’s neck in a single, savage motion.

  The scream that rips from Fedora’s throat isn’t human. The sound vibrates through the floor, the walls—through Alex’s bones. Veins glow an unnatural hue beneath his skin as the serum hits him like a lightning strike.

  Alex lies there, breath shallow, watching him change—watches his veins glow an ethereal color. The man’s body gradually swelling with power before her eyes.

  His eyes are wild, his body trembling with the strain of the serum. Sweat drips down his face, his muscles twitching uncontrollably. His eyes lock onto Alex, fury boiling in his veins.

  The transformation, the serum—it’s increasing. The power that is coursing through him too much for his weak human body to handle.

  Akio drops back beside her, cradling her head in his lap, urgent and gentle. “Hey, hey—stay with me.”

  Alex blinks sluggishly. She sees the grotesque creature Fedora is becoming, something no longer human.

  “G-get it out,” she breathes, nodding at the bone in her chest.

  Akio doesn’t hesitate. “This’ll hurt.”

  And it does. The moment he pulls the blade free, Alex screams—then slumps, going limp as the wound seals itself in real-time, flesh knitting closed with the crackle of power.

  But she’s already moving before the pain fades. On her feet. Shaky. But standing.

  “Alex?” Akio breathes, rising beside her, uncertain.

  “You should get out of here.” Her eyes never leave Fedora, now a grotesque storm of crackling energy and pulsating rage.

  Akio snorts, lifting to stand beside her. “Like hell I'm leaving you here.”

  Alex’s lips twitch, a small smile appearing despite the pain.

  Then—silence. That strange, pregnant quiet before disaster.

  Fedora explodes. A ball of nothing but pure white hot energy.

  Alex lunges.

  Her muscles scream in protest, barely recuperated energy beginning to wane. She reaches out with everything she has, pulling at the explosion building inside Fedora, trying to siphon and contain it.

  But somehow, the power feeds on her. A feedback loop. It floods her, devouring every cell, igniting every nerve. Suddenly she can’t hold it.

  The explosion that detonates suddenly becomes amplified, the very force of the explosion folding into her, pouring into her veins like liquid fire. The power grows, ripples of energy racing through her, building—until it becomes too much.

  The ground splits open. The mill disintegrates. A wave of pure, incandescent force bursts outward, ripping apart everything it touches.

  Across the street, buildings fold like paper. A blast of blinding light swallows the afternoon sun. The world itself seems to shake apart at the seams.

  Alex gasps, her body trying to contain the devastation she’s unwittingly fed. She feels it—the weight of the destruction. The innocent people caught in the blast, their lives snuffed out in an instant. She’s powerless to stop it. The shockwave expands, ripping through the streets, leveling everything in its path.

  Akio watches in horror, his heart pounding as the world around him is torn apart. He knows what’s happening. He knows the kind of devastation Alex has just unleashed.

  But in that moment, he acts. The last ember of energy in him sparks to life, a protective shield snapping into place around him just as the shockwave reaches him. The force of the explosion crashes against the shield with a deafening roar. Akio’s muscles strain against the pressure, but he remains untouched, the shield holding firm.

  He watches as the world around them disintegrates—buildings torn asunder, the very street ripped apart. The shockwave continues to spread, its energy growing with every passing second. The blast that Alex unintentionally fueled more than anyone could have ever anticipated.

  ~~~

  The silence after the blast is unnatural. A vacuum where life should be.

  The wreckage groans around them—steel bent into abstract art, brick and bone reduced to rubble. Street lamps flicker like dying stars above the smoldering crater that used to be an entire block of the city. Smoke coils upward, black against the pale afternoon sky, clawing at heaven for answers.

  Alex kneels in the wreckage, her breath ragged. Her hands tremble violently as if her bones remember the blast her body tried—and failed—to contain. Blood mats her hair. Her shirt is soaked through with it. But worse than the pain is the weight.

  She feels it.

  Every soul that was here.

  Gone.

  She hears their last screams. Hears them echo in her head, not through memory but through some terrible, intimate tether between her power and their dying breath.

  “I... I didn’t...” she whispers, voice almost too soft to hear over the distant wails of alarms.

  Akio staggers to her, bleeding from a split lip, a dozen bruises already blooming across his arms. He drops beside her, panting hard, every muscle taut. His hands hover over her like he's afraid she’ll break more.

  “Alex. We’ve got to go.”

  Her eyes are empty. Hollowed out. She stares straight through him, still seeing the blast. The fire. The people running, too slow, too human.

  Akio grabs her shoulders, shakes her gently.

  “I couldn’t—” she breathes.

  “I know,” he says, softer now.

  The city block, once alive with life, is now nothing more than a smoldering crater. The air smells of burning debris and the acrid stench of destruction.

  A siren shrieks somewhere behind them—closer this time. The blue and red lights flicker through the smoke like angry ghosts.

  Akio stands, hauling her up with him. She stumbles, her legs barely cooperating, but instinct kicks in. The old, worn reflex to survive. To run.