Six years had passed since the fateful Invidia raid—a mere week, yet a lifetime’s worth of change. Mia sat in her office, inhaling the soothing aroma of freshly brewed tea. Its warmth shielded from the grim realities lurking beyond her walls. Around her, shelves brimming with ancient texts and mission memorabilia told the story of her career, each item meticulously placed—a testament to years of hard-fought battles.

  Her gaze drifted to a lone photograph on the desk, capturing a moment frozen in time, Mia flanked by Knight, Scholar, and others—ten individuals once bound by camaraderie. Now, only three remained. Some had perished during the Invidia raid; others fell to the very monsters they’d vowed to destroy. A soft knock at the door interrupted her thoughts.

  It opened to reveal the two survivors. Jack, his black hair unkempt and orange eyes shadowed by sleepless nights, wore a hoodie and sweatpants that clashed with the tension etched into his posture. Beside him stood Elizabeth, shorter, her curly pink hair framing a face dominated by round glasses. She clutched her pink-tied suit jacket as though it might stave off the dread in the room.

  “I—I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors,” Elizabeth began shakily. “Nikolai left A.E.G.I.S. after what happened to Emma… a lot of agents followed him.”

  Mia lowered her teacup, and the porcelain clicked unnaturally loudly in the hush. “I’ve heard,” she said, her voice measured. “And?”

  Elizabeth glanced at Jack, searching for courage. He stepped forward, forcing a steadiness into his tone. “We’re thinking of leaving, too. We want you with us. If we go now, no one will stop us.”

  Mia’s gaze narrowed, flicking between the two. Her answer was swift, underpinned by anger. “This is absurd. Where do you plan on going?” The edge in her voice made the room feel colder, and for a long moment, neither Jack nor Elizabeth could find the words to reply.

  “Nikolai’s gathering people at his new base,” Elizabeth said, a hint of confidence bleeding into her otherwise shaky voice. “He’s even found a way to locate Awakened, they’re someone on par with the Bookkeeper’s abilities.”

  Mia’s grip tightened on her teacup; the surface of the liquid rippled ominously. “Where, exactly?”

  Elizabeth opened her mouth to answer, but Jack cut in. “Don’t pretend, Mia—you never intended to join us.” His tone was steady, though resignation stained each syllable.

  For a tense moment, silence hung in the air. Then Mia’s composure fractured. The tea in her cup exploded outward, a jet of water lashing toward Jack’s face. He barely evaded, splashing tea against the wall instead.

  “Not for a second, you traitorous trash,” Mia spat, her voice trembling with rage. “Everything A.E.G.I.S. did for us—and this is your repayment? If not for our leader, I’d still be rotting in that hellhole!” Her words cracked like a whip, raw anger pouring from each syllable.

  Moisture gathered in the air, condensing into razor-sharp bullets of water. With a flick of her wrist, Mia sent them hurtling at her former comrades. Elizabeth and Jack dove aside, but the droplets twisted midflight and arced back in pursuit, each imbued with Mia’s seething fury.

  “We know what A.E.G.I.S. has done for us,” Elizabeth cried, voice edged with panic as she tried to dodge the relentless barrage, “but they can’t be trusted anymore!”

  Metal groaned in response to Jack’s power, the walls twisting and contorting as he shaped a makeshift shield. Water bullets slammed against the steel barrier with brutal force, the entire structure quaking under Mia’s wrath.

  “Mia, please—trust us!” Jack’s voice was frantic, his eyes alive with fear and urgency.

  “I did!” Mia screamed, her words laced with betrayal. Razor-sharp bullets of water hammered the makeshift metal shield, each impact shaking the walls. “But you threw it away. I’ll bring you in myself—let Area 51 handle traitors like you!”

  Her fury pressed against them like a physical force, yet Jack refused to yield. “The Invidia raid was a disaster—we lost nearly everyone for nothing! Don’t you see it? The boss had an ulterior motive. Invidia wasn’t a threat; it was hidden, off the radar. He wanted something from it.”

  Mia’s knuckles whitened, her eyes burning with rage. Doubt warred with anger behind her gaze, but she refused to falter. “You’re delusional! That raid was necessary—A.E.G.I.S. needed us there. We had to do our duty.”

  Overhead, water spiraled faster, coagulating into lethal, blade-like arcs. She flung them forward, each slash tearing toward Jack and Elizabeth. Metal groaned as Jack reshaped his barrier, fighting to keep pace with Mia’s onslaught. Elizabeth’s voice, hoarse with grief, rose to join his:

  “Stella, Lucas, Dorothy—gone, all of them. What was the point of there deaths?”

  The mention of their fallen comrades struck deep. For an instant, the swirling waters trembled with hesitation, but Mia quickly steeled herself. “Shut up!” she bellowed, summoning a tidal wave that crashed forward in a violent surge. Jack braced against it, straining every fiber of his being to hold the barrier together. Even then, the sheer momentum tore at the metal, threatening to submerge them all in Mia’s wrath.

  Elizabeth’s voice shook as she pushed on. “Please, Mia! We don’t want this fight—we just need you to see the truth. The boss doesn’t care about us. We’re pawns to him, nothing more.”

  For a moment, uncertainty flickered in Mia’s eyes, but her face soon hardened. The tidal wave intensified, crashing down with renewed ferocity. “You’re wrong! He saved us, gave us purpose. You’ve lost your way, not me!”

  Jack grunted, redoubling his efforts to reinforce the distorting metal shield. “Mia, please! We can leave together—none of us owe A.E.G.I.S. anything, not anymore!”

  Water bullets zipped in a deadly spiral, curving with impossible accuracy toward Jack and Elizabeth. The tortured squeal of bending steel underscored the metal shield’s desperate battle against Mia’s unrelenting assault. Yet Jack refused to relent, his voice laden with urgency.

  “We’re all that you have left!” Elizabeth shouted, tears on the edge of her words. “Why keep fighting us?”

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  Mia’s fury flared. A nearby kettle began to rattle, steam pouring from its spout. With a flick of her wrist, she hurled it at Jack.

  He gave a wry grin. “You forget—I control metal.” The kettle froze midair in front of him.

  But the real threat was the boiling water inside. It surged out in a blistering wave, wrapping around Jack’s head like a living trap. He screamed, clawing at the scalding liquid as it burned his flesh. Agony shattered his concentration, and his weakened barrier quaked under Mia’s power.

  Seeing her opening, Mia lunged forward. Elizabeth, panicking, tried to sap Mia’s strength with her debuff ability, but she was too late—Mia was upon them. In a single, brutal move, Mia drove two fingers into Elizabeth’s glasses, shattering the lenses and driving jagged glass shards into Elizabeth’s eyes.

  Elizabeth’s scream tore through the air. She crumpled to the ground, clutching her bleeding face.

  Mia didn’t pause. She delivered a swift, brutal kick to Elizabeth’s head, sending her sprawling. Elizabeth’s cry of pain echoed through the office. Wracked by agony, Jack fought to reform his defenses, but it was clear the fight had turned against them.

  Still, he refused to give up. Gritting his teeth through the scalding pain etched across his face, Jack yanked at the room’s metal walls, shaping chunks the size of shot puts that hovered ominously in the air.

  “You think this is over, Mia?” he rasped. With a sharp gesture, he launched the metal spheres at her in a vicious flurry.

  Mia countered with a barrier of water, but the impact of steel against liquid sent thunderous shockwaves through the room, cracking the floor beneath her. She redirected the barrier, twisting the water into a vortex that snared the shot puts and spun them back at Jack in a lethal barrage.

  He dove aside, hissing as one sphere tore through his sleeve and bit into his arm. Ignoring the wound, he assaulted Mia with every scrap of metal he could manipulate. The office dissolved into a storm of steel and churning water, each strike met with equal ferocity.

  Elizabeth, still dazed and bleeding, lurched to her feet. Though her vision blurred, she spotted Mia’s form amidst the chaos. Summoning her resolve, she reactivated her debuff ability, channeling every drop of power she had left into slowing Mia down.

  Mia felt it instantly, her body dragged as though weighted, the water resisting her commands. A snarl of frustration escaped her lips—Elizabeth. Even under the curse, Mia’s resolve remained iron. She forced the water to surge into a colossal wave, crashing down on Jack and Elizabeth with devastating force.

  But Jack was ready. He drove his hand into the wall, manipulating the surrounding metal to form a protective dome. The wave slammed into it, water erupting in every direction, but the dome held. Panting, Jack knew their stalemate was fleeting.

  “We have to leave,” he urged, voice raw with exhaustion. “We’re not winning this.”

  Elizabeth, face streaked with blood, nodded unsteadily. “Just…one last push.”

  Lowering the dome, Jack pooled the remaining metal into a final barrage of shot-put-sized spheres and flung them at Mia with everything he had. She split her focus, trying to defend against the airborne metal while maintaining her assault.

  For a heartbeat, the metal barrage threatened to overwhelm her. Strained and momentarily unsure, Mia hesitated—just enough time for Jack to drag Elizabeth to her feet and bolt for the door. With a roar, he blasted it off its hinges, clearing a path. By the time Mia recalibrated, they were already gone.

  Breathing hard, water dripping from her trembling hands, Mia stood amid the wreckage, the aftershocks of Elizabeth’s debuff still pulsing through her. She spat a curse, fury flaring behind her eyes. They had escaped, but she knew there’d be a next time.

  Next time, Mia vowed, she would not hesitate.

  In the present day, deep beneath the raging battle, the bunker’s cramped walls did little to muffle distant clashes. The students huddled in tense silence, each face reflecting mingled anxiety and resolve.

  “What’s happening up there?” Celia asked, her voice trembling. “Mrs. Stone—will she be okay?”

  “She’s strong,” Jacob insisted, though his voice shook slightly. “We’ve all seen her handle worse. Remember how she deflected Charles’s attacks like they were nothing?”

  Alice, glancing toward the bunker’s exit, added, “What about Charles and Iris? They’re still in the medical office. We can’t just sit here.”

  Xavier’s features hardened with determination. “They’re our friends. We have to help them.”

  Theo nodded, eyes flicking to his sister. “I’m worried for Celia, but we can’t abandon Charles and Iris.”

  Celia swallowed hard, but her tone was firm. “I won’t hide while they’re in danger. Let’s find them.”

  Jacob exhaled, shoulders stiffening. “All right. The bunker connects to hidden passages. If we follow them, we’ll reach the medical wing.”

  Pushing past the weight of fear, the group navigated the narrow, dim corridors. Echoes of distant fighting reverberated through the facility, each step a reminder of the danger they now faced. Yet none of them faltered. The faint light of flickering bulbs guided them until they emerged into a hallway—and into a nightmare.

  They froze at the threshold. The corridor reeked of blood and cordite, its once-sterile surfaces scarred by savage violence. Bodies of A.E.G.I.S. agents lay in twisted heaps, many reduced to mutilated remains. Crimson smears stained the walls; here and there, half-devoured limbs attested to unspeakable brutality.

  At the center of this grisly tableau, perched atop a mangled corpse, sat a young man. Medium-length blond hair framed his face with unsettling elegance. But it was his eyes—an eerie crimson glow—that seized their attention. Malevolence practically radiated from him, as though the carnage was merely a stage he occupied with casual indifference.

  Little did Iris know that her actions had profoundly altered the course of the future. The butterfly’s wings beat furiously, setting off a chain of events that would ripple through time, bringing about monumental changes

  Amid the carnage, the young man’s presence was both mesmerizing and horrifying. His features were uncannily handsome—almost classical, like a film star from a bygone era—yet an unearthly quality made his beauty profoundly unsettling. Relaxed as he gnawed on a severed arm, he seemed alarmingly at ease with the surrounding brutality.

  The children stood frozen, their stomachs twisting at the sight of someone so composed amid such horror. He moved in a blur of unrnatural speed, springing off the corpse and landing with predatory grace. He hurled the half-eaten limb at the wall in a single fluid motion. It struck with a wet thud, sliding down to leave a dripping scarlet smear.

  Before the kids could fully register the grisly spectacle, the man was right in front of them. His crimson eyes gleamed with an unsettling amusement, and the oppressive energy rolling off him pressed into their very bones. He crouched, so close they could smell the blood on his breath.

  “How delightful,” he murmured, his voice smooth yet edged with malice. “I thought you children were safely tucked away in your bunkers. It’s rather… entertaining to find you wandering about. Now, what to do with such wayward prey?”

  He spoke as though making idle conversation, but menace dripped from every word. The kids stared back in mute horror, skin tingling under the Boogeyman’s predatory gaze. They were unarmed, untrained for anything like this, and the calm ferocity radiating from him left them rooted to the spot—fear made flesh. The thought of running flickered through their minds, but their legs refused to move, as if the hallway’s darkness had swallowed their courage whole.

  Boogeyman’s gaze flickered over them, a cruel smile twisting his lips. “Ah, I recognize a few of you. Tell me…” His voice dropped to a hush, cold and intimate. “Did you ever cry over the monster under your bed—swearing you saw it, felt it, but no one believed you?”

  The children could only stare, paralyzed by terror.

  He chuckled softly, a sound that clawed at their nerves. “That monster was me. I find it… therapeutic… to deliver such sweet nightmares.” His laugh turned razor-sharp as he leaned in closer, eyes gleaming like embers. “Now, allow me to grant you a few more.”