The alarm blared.
"Guys, we need to move! Now!" Adrian shouted, his voice cutting through the tension like a blade.
They sprinted down the sterile, dimly lit hallway toward the vehicle bay. Adrian activated 3% Full Cowling, his limbs sparking faintly with power as he surged forward. Bobby and Cassie were right behind him, their boots slamming against the metal floor.
"Double-check the gear!" Adrian barked.
"We're good!" Bobby replied, clutching a small bag. "We've got the prisoner files, camp locations, and IDs."
"And don't forget these," Adrian added, pulling out two vials—one glowing violet, the other a cloudy white. "No idea what they are, but something tells me they're important."
Cassie nodded. "Then we make damn sure they don't fall into the wrong hands."
ALERT: Prisoner 528 is escaping! All units to the vehicle bay! Repeat: all units to the vehicle bay!
"Shit. They've found us!" Bobby growled.
"Then we run faster!" Adrian cranked Full Cowling to 4%. His muscles screamed in protest.
They burst into the vehicle bay—and froze.
A dozen guards, armed and armored, blocked the exit.
Adrian clenched his fists. "No choice. We fight."
What followed was chaos.
Adrian blurred forward. A guard raised his rifle, but in a flash Adrian vanished and reappeared just behind him, landing a crushing elbow to the back of his head. To the untrained eye, it looked like teleportation, but it was his Permeation quirk in action—a secret even the warden don't know about.
Cassie melted into the shadows along the wall, reemerging behind a guard with a Shadowblade slicing upward. He dropped, unconscious.
Bobby tackled a soldier twice his size, his spatial powers shimmering around his fists. With a growl, he warped both of them mid-air, flipping and slamming the soldier into the concrete floor.
"There's too many!" Cassie shouted, dodging a bullet and flinging a shadow dart that knocked a rifle from another guard's hands.
Adrian reappeared mid-kick, roundhouse slamming a guard into the wall. "Get in the car! Now!"
They piled into a military truck. Adrian dove into the front seat and ripped the panel beneath the wheel.
"Bobby, passenger seat! Cassie, back! Use those shadows to slow them down!"
Cassie was already at work, forming shadow spikes and launching them out the back window.
The engine coughed, then roared to life.
"FUCKING MOVE, NOW!" Bobby screamed, slamming the pedal.
The vehicle screeched forward, tires screaming. Behind them, guards scrambled and bullets pinged off the rear.
Warden POV
"Launch the chopper. Get me eyes on them now!"
The warden stormed aboard the black military helicopter, already rising off the ground.
"They're heading to the forest route," a soldier said. "Should we block the path?"
"No. We'll drive them to the edge. If they make it to the woods, we lose them. Aim to cripple, not kill. But if they refuse to stop... eliminate them."
Back on the road, Adrian swerved through the winding path.
"Bobby, eyes up!"
"Two Trucks tailing us!"
Cassie grinned. "About time."
She rolled down the window, summoning a jagged shadow spear. She whispered, "Night-night," and flung it.
In the Trucks:
"Visual on target vehicle. We'll flank them left, confirm—"
CRUNCH.
The spear impaled their front tire. The Truck spun out, slamming into the second vehicle with a thunderous impact. Metal screamed, both trucks flipping in a tangled mess.
"HOLY SHIT, CASSIE!" Bobby shouted.
"That was nothing," she said. "You should've seen me take down a Mafia convoy in Milan."
"Save the stories for later!" Adrian yelled. "We're still getting lit the fuck up!"
In the helicopter:
"Target confirmed. Bring them down. Aim for the driver."
The sniper adjusted his scope.
Back in the truck:
Adrian glanced at the vials in his lap. "No clue what's in these, but they're important. Keep them safe—"
CRACK.
A high-caliber round tore through the air, piercing Adrian's left arm That holding the purple vial.
"FUCK!" he roared, jerking the wheel. The vial shattered, the purple liquid Leaking into his arm.
"Shit, SHIT!" Bobby grabbed the wheel. "Adrian, talk to me!"
"They hit the fucking joint—elbow's fucked! Cassie, stop the bleeding!"
"On it! Hold still, dammit!"
Cassie wrapped the stolen bandages tight around Adrian's bleeding arm. He dropped the empty vial, his face pale.
"It went straight through," she muttered.
"Do what you can... I'll live."
"You better. You're the goddamn driver!"
Bobby slid into the driver's seat and kept the truck moving.
"We're near the cliffside," he muttered.
"They're right on us," Cassie added, peeking out the window.
The warden's chopper loomed above.
"They are resisting bring them down," the warden said coldly. "Aim for the head."
The sniper nodded.
A moment later, the chopper dove.
BOOM!
The impact rocked the road. The truck flipped and crashed. Adrian and the others were thrown into the dirt, coughing and battered.
The warden stepped from the wreckage, arm gleaming.
"I'm impressed. No one's ever gotten this far."
He cracked his knuckles. "But it ends here."
He lunged.
Adrian dodged, barely, but caught a blow to his ribs. Blood sprayed from his mouth.
"GUYS, RUN!" he yelled.
Cassie shook her head. "No fucking way!"
"We're not leaving you!" Bobby added.
"You have to. He wants me. Not you. Take the files and lay low. We'll regroup. Just GO!"
They hesitated.
"GO!"
Bobby cursed and grabbed Cassie. "Forgive me."
He leapt off the cliff with her, warping through the air to land safely in the trees below.
The warden approached Adrian.
"You've got balls. I'll give you that."
Adrian wiped blood from his lips. "And you've got a face I want to break."
"You're nothing but meat for the lab."
"Wrong," Adrian said, cracking his neck. I will teach you a lesson that you will not forget "My name is Adrian Zenith. A hero. And you—are a fucking monster. And right now? I'm your reckoning."
The warden moved to finish it—
"100%... DETROIT SMASH!"
A seismic explosion ripped through the air. Adrian's right arm detonated with power, the shockwave cratering the earth.
The warden's midsection collapsed under the punch. He was launched like a missile, crashing through the treetops.
Adrian fell to his knees, his arm hanging useless.
"FUCK... that hurt."
He grinned through the pain.
"Go back to the Jurassic Age, you fuck king fossil."
And with that, Adrian collapsed And fall down the mountain.