Night at A City was glistening with neon lights and steel. Cyberpunk skyscrapers dominate the streets, their holographic billboards and neon signs reflecting against the rain-slicked roads. But the city, alive, in the cowl, was the figure of Kai Ciphera gliding in silence, wearing his signature skull mask.

  A silhouette did flash from the skyline all but across extant rooftops, landing on the ledge of some nearby skyscraper. From here, he could view the Technovaire Tower, the enormous green logo shining in the dark.

  Kai squinted. That was his target.

  He activated his Stealth Mode, bending light, deflecting thermal radiation, and nullifying sound with his Energy Barrier to fool both the naked eye and security cameras into thinking he wasn't there. Thus, he breached the building and slipped through the glass vents.

  But there was one problem.

  The Technovaire Master Computer is underground, locked in behind piles of security working for biometric access only from upper management.

  Luckily, Kai had an idea. He positioned himself near the entrance. Within moments, a scientist made his way through the door.

  As the door started to close, Kai slipped through the gap like a shadow.

  Inside the server room, huge data processors buzzed with so much energy, their flickering lights barely able to keep up with the endless streams of encrypted information. Kai walked to the Master Computer interface and placed his palm against it.

  Blue electricity arced sharply from his fingertips.

  His Ergokinesis interfaced with the system and accessed the secured database.

  While files were transferring into Guido's private server, something caught Kai's eye: A classified file about his power.

  Kai's breath hitched as he scrolled through the data. His eyes were wide with incomprehension.

  The database contained the names of others with his power—terminated, obliterated from existence by the government. His predecessors were the origin of almost every power existing today.

  "Why were they killing them?" he thought to himself.

  Then, another piece of information came out, saying that Ergokinesis can be passed on to others. If this power spread to the masses and the wrong hands, it could end the world.

  A sudden realization hit him. "I didn't awaken it... I inherited it. From the Glowing Light that knocked me out before."

  Just as he was tying the knot on the truth, the sirens blared through the server room.

  "Intruder Detected!"

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  The door slammed shut with reinforced metal, locking him in as the system lit up in red alerts.

  Then came the drones.

  Two sleek flying Sentinels flew into the room with their multi-barrel laser cannons aimed at Kai. The drones figured him out even when he was in Stealth Mode.

  A barrage of high-powered laser fire chipped down.

  Kai brought up his Energy Barrier. But the beams were too pure and potent. In an instant, a sharp, burning pain shot through his hand.

  "Ah! Fuck!"

  He couldn't move his left hand away from the terminal, which was still transferring data. So, with his right hand, he fired a barrage of lightning bolts at the drone, but they had no effect.

  Those Sentinels quickly increased in numbers and continued their onslaught, forcing their way through Kai's defenses, fighting until he endured their burn.

  "I'm not going to last!" He surveyed the transfer progress. Completion: 55%. It was not quite enough, but he would die if he stayed.

  Kai growled in frustration, pulling his palm free from the terminal, thus severing the connection. Then he lunged at the nearest drone and crushed it in his bare hands as sparks and metal shrapnel burst from its core.

  The second drone retaliated, but it was too late.

  With a deafening blast, Kai blew the vault door off its hinges, sending shard after jagged shard flying as he sprinted into the main hall.

  "Alert! Alert! Security Level Maximum!"

  The entire building was now on complete lockdown.

  Then-a metallic thud shook the ground.

  On the opposite end of the hall, a massive humanoid mech stepped into view. Its mechanical joints whirred, and a power core pulsed with energy in its chest.

  A Titan Class Sentinel.

  The robot lunged. Crashed down a steel fist the size of a car, but Kai dodged it at the last moment and rolled along the floor. With all his might, he countered by delivering a devastating punch to the mech's chest.

  CLANG!

  Kai's strike hardly made a dent.

  Then, two hover disks flew off the mech's back, discharging beams of gravitational energy.

  Kai was immobilized and locked completely.

  No matter if he pulled with all his might, it could not budge him an inch. Muscles tensed, and energy flared, but freedom never came.

  The mech's arm opened, releasing a canister of thick purple gas: Sleeping Gas.

  Kai's vision blurred. He swayed as the gas pooled into his lungs, numbing his senses.

  Footsteps approached.

  Through his fading vision, Kai saw a silhouette emerging from the darkness.

  A man.

  He couldn't figure out who it was.

  His mind forced him to move, but everything faded and went black.