November 20th, 2015 — Chicago — Grayson House — 10:25 PM
The night wind cut through Chicago in cold lines as Mark and Kai made their way home.
They flew along the shadows of buildings and the broken glow of the avenues. City lights passed beneath them in yellow and red streaks, cars reduced to slow-moving dots, people too small to notice two figures crossing the sky above.
Mark's flight was less steady than usual.
His leg still felt heavy. His black eye throbbed every time the wind hit his face. Kai was not much better.
His body still obeyed, but with a delay. The improvised bandage bothered him beneath his shirt, and the exhaustion from the Void stayed at the back of his head, pulsing with the stubbornness of something that had no intention of leaving quickly.
Mark ran his tongue over the cut on his lip, then looked over at him. "Amber was weird. Even with you and Eve helping with the hit-and-run excuse, she was... weird."
Kai glanced at him from the corner of his eye.
"You arrived late, injured, limping, with a terrible excuse about a traffic accident. I think that was to be expected."
Mark grimaced.
"Okay. When you put it like that, it sounds worse."
Mark's mouth tightened. The image of Amber at the community center came back too clearly, that suspicious look of hers still sitting between them.
Then Mark shifted his shoulders. "Changing the subject... Amber wanted me to ask what you think of Eve... I'm asking even though I already know the answer. Maybe it'll score me some points with Amber."
Kai raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't think about her like that."
Mark watched him. "So that's it. You don't see her, like... romantically?"
Kai kept his eyes ahead, following the dark outline of a taller building. "No." His voice came without mockery. "I admire her. The way she tries to help others on her own. Without caring too much what people will think. But that's all."
Mark looked away toward the city. "Do you still think about Kiana?"
Kai nodded once.
That was all.
And Mark seemed to relax, a small tension vanishing from his shoulders before even he noticed it. His flight grew steadier. The hand he had kept closed near his body opened slightly.
Kai saw it.
He did not comment.
After that, only the wind moved between them.
The city lights passed below them in slow rivers. Kai opened his mouth. Closed it. Let out a breath through his nose.
Then Kai released the next sentence like someone throwing a small stone into a dark lake and accepting the ripples before even seeing them, someone tired of lying and keeping secrets.
"Eve and I slept together one night."
Mark turned his face so fast he almost lost his flight line.
"What?"
Kai did not slow down.
Mark moved half a meter closer, his eyes wide despite the swelling in one of them.
"What do you mean? Slept together like... that?" His voice caught somewhere between shock and disbelief. "How did that happen?"
Kai confirmed with a short movement of his head.
Mark stared at him as if the night had just become more absurd than Battle Beast going through a building.
"Dude."
Kai drew a deep breath through his nose.
"It was when you told me Kiana had texted asking for a photo with her current guy, or something like that. Around the same time, she had broken up with Rex." His gaze stayed fixed on the path ahead. "We were both kind of messed up. And it happened."
Mark opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Kai did not give him room to turn it into an interrogation. "We both agreed it was a mistake."
The sentence stayed in the air, drier than it was sad.
Mark went quiet.
He flew beside him without looking at the city, without looking at his brother. The shock was still there, but something else was behind it. Not judgment. Not exactly. Just a strange feeling.
Then Kai continued. "We didn't tell anyone." He turned his face enough to look at Mark for one second. "So let this die here."
Mark held his gaze.
Kai looked away first.
"I'm just tired of hiding things."
This time, Mark had no quick answer.
The Grayson house appeared a few minutes later, with the kitchen lights on and the dark backyard receiving the two of them like a familiar point in the middle of the entire city.
They landed carefully on the grass.
The back door creaked when they entered.
The warmth of the kitchen came first.
Then the smell of clean wood and some leftover food stored away. The living room TV was on at low volume. Nolan was near the counter, a mug in his hand, his posture far too calm for someone who noticed the state of his two sons in the same instant.
His eyes moved from Mark to Kai.
The cut on the lip.
The black eye.
The way Mark put less weight on one leg.
Kai's pale face.
The mug touched the counter with a low sound.
"What left you two in that condition?"
Mark ran a hand over the back of his neck.
Kai closed the door behind them.
Neither of them had enough energy left to make the lie convincing.
Mark walked to a chair and sat down with an unnatural slowness.
"Machine Head had reinforcements."
Nolan did not move.
Kai stood near the sink, resting one hand on the edge long enough for it to look casual.
"A bunch of hired criminals. People with fire, electricity, lava, tentacles..." His gaze met Nolan's. "And one who looked like a lion."
Nolan's expression changed almost not at all.
But it changed.
Mark rested his elbow on the table, the memory already souring his expression.
"Battle Beast. I think that's what they called him." His jaw tightened at the memory of the blow. "He took down Titan, hit me, hit Kai, nearly killed two Guardians."
Nolan straightened.
"Guardians?"
Kai nodded.
"They arrived later. Helped contain the others."
Mark rubbed his face carefully so he would not touch the black eye.
"Monster Girl and Black Samson got hurt. Badly. Very badly. The GDA took them both."
Whatever settled over the kitchen after that did not belong in a home.
Nolan looked at the two of them with a hardness that did not seem like concern. It felt like evaluation. Measurement. A cold irritation accumulating behind his eyes.
"Let me understand. You said it was simple, and then you went to help the man I told you not to help. And in the end, this Machine Head was strong enough to beat two Viltrumites?"
Mark frowned.
Kai stepped in before his brother's answer came out wrong.
"Not him." His voice came firmer than his body seemed to allow. "But the one who looked like a lion was."
Nolan stayed still.
The irritation did not disappear.
His eyes went over the state of the two of them again, and there was something almost offensive in the way he seemed more bothered that they had been beaten than relieved that they had returned.
Then footsteps came from the hallway.
Debbie appeared at the kitchen entrance wearing a light cardigan over her house clothes, her hair tied back carelessly, her expression already changing before she had even finished entering.
"What happened?"
Mark stood too quickly, tried to look normal, and almost stumbled.
Mistake.
Debbie crossed the kitchen immediately.
"Mark!"
"We're fine, Mom."
She held his face with both hands, tilting her head to examine the black eye, then the cut on his lip.
"This is not fine."
"It's been worse."
"That does not help."
Mark opened his mouth, but Debbie had already turned to Kai.
He did not even try to escape.
Maybe because he did not have the energy. Maybe because the touch of her hands, even worried, even invasive, carried no judgment at all. Debbie touched his face, examined the cut, pulled the collar of his shirt aside enough to see the crooked edge of the bandage.
"Kai..."
"It wasn't that serious."
Her gaze rose to his.
Kai closed his mouth.
Debbie adjusted the gauze carefully, her fingers firm but gentle.
The corner of his mouth moved almost without permission.
Small.
But sincere.
The kitchen seemed warmer.
Not because of the yellow light or the coffee on the counter. But because it felt like there was somewhere to return to and someone there who cared enough for that to matter.
The irritation on Nolan's face gradually lost strength as he looked at Debbie.
It did not disappear completely.
But it loosened its teeth.
Nolan drew in a slow breath and let it out through his nose.
Mark let himself drop back into the chair.
Kai leaned lightly against the sink, allowing his body to finally admit some of its weight.
Nolan picked up the mug, and the kitchen fell silent again.
Elsewhere — GDA Hospital — 10:46 PM
The GDA medical corridor did not smell like an ordinary hospital.
There were no flowers, no old coffee, no low television trying to distract families sitting in uncomfortable chairs. Here, the air was cold, filtered, full of antiseptic, metal, and ozone. White lights ran across the ceiling in straight lines, reflecting off reinforced doors and windows too thick to look like they were made only of glass.
Inside one of the surgical rooms, Monster Girl remained motionless on a wide stretcher, too small to match the amount of equipment around her.
Her body had finally returned to human form after the transformation had flickered more than once, but there was nothing peaceful about it. Her skin was pale, her lips colorless, her eyes closed with a fragility that felt wrong in someone who, only hours before, had faced monsters, tentacles, and blows capable of breaking concrete.
Doctors moved around her with controlled urgency.
Monitors tracked heartbeat, pressure, oxygenation, and a dozen readings blinking across suspended screens. Thin tubes ran beneath thermal sheets. A scanner passed slowly over her body, projecting internal layers onto a holographic panel.
Robot stood beside the stretcher.
His armor had no expression. The visor did not change. His posture remained precise, calculated, clean. Even so, there was something in the way he occupied that space that did not match pure analysis.
One of the doctors lifted his eyes to the panel.
"Cellular age remains unstable. Regeneration isn't responding. The trauma seems to have accelerated the degradation."
Robot moved half a step closer to the stretcher, the armor's sensors adjusting their focus on Monster Girl's face.
"Recalibrate metabolic support to compensate for the rhythm." His voice kept the same neutrality as always. "And lower her body temperature by two degrees. Her enzymatic activity responded better under low-demand conditions after the last transformation."
The doctor was already reaching for the panel before the sentence finished.
"Doing it now."
Monster Girl did not react.
Her hand, small over the sheet, trembled once.
Robot turned his visor toward the movement.
No one else seemed to notice.
He noticed.
On the other side of the medical wing, Black Samson's emergency room was far louder.
His enormous body occupied almost the entire reinforced stretcher. The armor had been removed in a hurry and remained in pieces on a side table, dented in the center of the chest as if someone had tried to bend it with a hydraulic press.
The doctors worked fast.
A monitor erupted into alarm.
The cardiac line faltered.
"Losing rhythm."
Two defibrillator paddles were positioned over Samson's chest.
"Charging."
The first pulse struck his body.
For an instant, nothing happened.
Then Black Samson's skin glowed.
Not like a burn.
Like conduction.
Energy traveled through his muscles, climbing up his arms, shoulders, neck, accumulating beneath the skin in white and blue lines. The doctors stepped back at once, but not quickly enough to avoid the flash.
The energy burst outward.
The room lights flickered. A metal cart was thrown against the wall. One of the monitors went dark and returned with static noise.
Black Samson arched on the stretcher, pulling in air all at once.
The sound was harsh, deep, almost a growl torn from inside his chest.
The alarm changed.
The cardiac line returned.
Irregular at first.
Then steadier.
A doctor kept her hand raised, still protecting her face from the flash that had already ended.
"His signs are stabilizing."
Robot appeared at the entrance to the room seconds later, his visor passing over the data, the damaged equipment, and Black Samson's body.
The reading confirmed it before any report could.
Samson was alive.
But his attention was still caught in the room beside it, where Monster Girl was still fighting against her own body.
Robot remained between the two doors for an instant.
Then he returned to her room.
In the following days, he did not stay away for very long.
He requested old files. Cross-referenced data from previous transformations. Gathered rare medicines specific to her biology. When one answer took too long, he found another path. When one method failed, he tested three alternatives before the failure had even finished being recorded.
The medical team said he was being efficient.
That was true.
But it was not everything.
Robot followed every small improvement. Every stabilization. Every adjustment to life support. Every reading that indicated Monster Girl was still there, even when her body insisted on making that difficult.
And little by little, she began to come back.
Something in the way Robot acted said that watching from a distance might not be enough.
Two Weeks Earlier — November 13th, 2015 — Mauler Twins' Laboratory — 9:54 PM
The laboratory trembled with the hum of machines too old to look stable and too advanced to be called scrap.
Cables descended from the ceiling like metallic roots. Glass tanks occupied an entire wall, some empty, others filled with murky liquid and slow bubbles. Green lights blinked over improvised panels, and the smell of chemicals mixed with burnt ozone made the air heavy.
At the center of the room, a metal stretcher tilted.
One of the Mauler Twins opened his eyes.
The other stood up, staring at the newly awakened one with the impatient expression of someone who had just completed an unpleasant but necessary task.
The Mauler on the stretcher drew a deep breath, massive muscles tensing as he sat up.
The one standing grabbed a towel and threw it against his chest. "For a copy, you turned out acceptable."
The Mauler on the stretcher locked eyes with him.
"Copy?"
The other opened a satisfied smile.
"Yes. I am the original."
The towel slowly slipped from the newly cloned one's hand.
"You only think that because you woke up first."
"I woke up first because I am the original."
"You woke up first because I programmed the sequence to preserve my primary consciousness."
"You programmed nothing. I programmed it."
The standing Mauler narrowed his eyes.
The one on the stretcher lowered his feet to the floor with a heavy impact.
Before the argument could turn aggressive, Robot's voice crossed the back of the laboratory, far too calm for the environment.
"I never understood why you do this. Though it does make sense if it is your method for always escaping prison. A replacement copy?"
Both Maulers turned at the same time.
For one second, the twins remained still.
Then both advanced.
The first punch came from the left, wide enough to crush the bench behind him. Robot dodged with a precise tilt of his torso, letting the fist pass inches from his visor. The second Mauler tried to grab him from the side, but Robot retreated half a step, twisted his body, and passed between them as if he had already calculated every angle before entering the room.
"I did not come to fight."
"Shut up," one of the Maulers snarled, flipping a table out of the way to clear space.
The newly cloned Mauler ripped a mechanical arm from a workbench and used it like a club. Robot leapt backward, the blow crushing the floor where he had been an instant before. Parts flew. Sparks rose. The other Mauler tried to flank him, but Robot raised his forearm, releasing a pulse of force low enough not to injure, strong enough to push him two meters back.
"I repeat," Robot continued, landing on a table without knocking over a single flask. "I did not come to fight."
The two Maulers reorganized themselves, irritation beginning to share space with curiosity. One of them raised a hand to the other, stopping another advance.
"Wait."
The second still kept his fists closed.
"He invaded our laboratory, and he still hasn't called backup."
Both pairs of eyes went to Robot.
The Mauler who had stopped the fight took a few steps forward, walking over cables and broken glass.
"And what do you want?" His gaze ran over the red armor, the sensors, the hidden compartments. "You found out where our lab is, and now what? Going to call the Guardians?"
Robot stepped down from the table.
The movement was slow, deliberate, without threat.
"If that were my intention, they would already be here."
The silence in the laboratory seemed to thicken.
The Maulers exchanged a look.
Robot raised his left forearm. A compartment opened with a soft click, revealing a small containment tube locked in internal supports. Inside it, a blood sample rested in preservative fluid, dark beneath the artificial light.
"I need your help." He removed the tube and held it between two metallic fingers. "Specifically, your expertise in tissue growth, DNA replication, and accelerated biological development."
The closest Mauler looked at the tube.
So did the other.
The hostility did not vanish, but it changed shape. The kind of interest born in their eyes was almost worse than anger.
Then Robot continued, "I will be generous."
The Maulers turned at the same time, exchanging a look as if the discussion had ended before it had even begun.
One of them walked up to Robot, raising a thick finger.
"In your generous proposal, there is something I want to include."
Robot returned the sample to the compartment, but did not close it.
"And what would that be?"
The Mauler smiled.
The other smiled with him.
This time, the two seemed dangerously aligned.
"We want to know where the Immortal's real body is."
Current Days, One Week After the Confrontation — Grayson House, Twins' Room — 10:46 AM
The twins' room was lit by daylight coming through the window.
Mark was sitting on the edge of the bed, messing with his phone. The black eye had almost faded, leaving only a small yellowish shadow, barely visible near his cheekbone. The cut on his lip was better too. Viltrumite regeneration doing its job.
Kai occupied the other side of the room, leaning back in the chair near the window. His body already looked normal from the outside. Inside, the exhaustion from the Void still left strange echoes at random moments, like a bill the Void had not forgotten to collect. However, somehow, it seemed more stable. Cosmic and Elise had postponed their trip to the United States by another week, something related to her pregnancy having a different rhythm. So the new exams on his brain had been postponed.
The window received two light knocks.
Mark lifted his head.
Outside, Eve floated in front of the glass, wrapped in a discreet pink glow.
Mark stood at once.
"Eve?"
He opened the window, and she came in carefully, landing on the bedroom floor without making a sound. The pink energy dissolved around her, leaving only the cold to enter for a few seconds before Mark closed the window again.
Eve looked over both of them.
She seemed to have come with purpose. Carrying a decision that had already been made before she arrived.
"I wanted to let you guys know that—"
"Eve!" Mark crossed the distance before she could finish, his expression brightening all at once. "Hey, thanks for covering for me with Amber."
Eve blinked.
Mark was already continuing, the words coming out too fast.
"I mean, I already thanked you for that day at the community center, but now I'm talking about this week at school. Amber said you talked to her."
He hugged her before embarrassment had time to appear.
Eve went stiff for half a second, surprised. Then she let out a short laugh and returned the hug with one hand on his back.
"You looked like you needed it."
"I really did." Mark pulled away with a sincere smile, still holding her shoulders for a moment before realizing it and letting go. "Seriously, thanks."
Eve smiled back.
Kai watched from the chair.
Mark, finally remembering that she had arrived in the middle of a sentence, tilted his head.
"Hey, are you going like that?" His eyes moved down to her clothes, then back to her face. "What about Upstate?"
Kai tilted the chair back, almost stretching. "I think when you interrupted her, she was about to say she wasn't going."
Mark looked at his brother.
Then at Eve.
"Why? Seriously?"
Eve drew a deep breath, not like someone in doubt, but like someone putting something into words that still felt new when it left her own mouth.
"I decided I'm not going to college."
She shrugged, but there was no indifference in the gesture. It was more a way of keeping the decision light enough not to turn into drama.
"So it kind of makes no sense to visit a campus."
Mark scratched the back of his neck.
"But... college is kind of important, right? Either way, you could still come with us."
Eve walked over and sat on Mark's bed, touching the edge of it with her fingers. Her eyes moved around the room for a moment. "When I was at the community center with you guys and Amber, it hit me." Her voice came firm, but unhurried. "Those people needed food, help, someone there. Not a fight against an alien. Not some giant emergency. Just help."
Mark listened in silence.
Eve turned her face toward him.
"I think I can be more useful that way. Helping people. Without waiting for an alien invasion. Without waiting for the next supervillain to decide to destroy the city before I do something."
Mark kept looking at her, trying to fit that into the shape of heroism he knew.
Kai set the chair back down. "Not even being a superhero."
Eve looked at him.
Kai rested his head against the back of the chair, glancing toward her from the corner of his eye.
"You decided you can do more with your powers, didn't you?"
Eve's face softened slightly.
"Yes."
She turned back to Mark, and this time there was more clarity in the way she held her own choice.
"I can irrigate deserts. Stop natural disasters. Bring food to people who are hungry." Her hand opened, and for a second pink particles shone between her fingers before disappearing. "Make a real difference, you know?"
Mark stayed silent for another moment.
Then he let a half-smile appear.
"Yeah. I get it."
Eve seemed almost surprised by how easily he answered.
Eve looked between the two of them.
"I expected Kai to agree." The corner of her mouth lifted a little. "But I thought you'd try to talk me out of it."
Mark shook his head.
"No. I really get it. It's noble of you." He looked toward his brother for a second. "I think that's what you meant when you said she does the right thing without worrying about what people will think."
Eve looked at Kai too.
This time, surprise crossed her face more strongly.
Not because of the sentence itself. But because she knew Kai had said it.
Kai met her eyes, then found the window suddenly worth studying.
Eve smiled, too small to tease him, too sincere to hide.
"Well..." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "That was it. I just came to tell you guys I wasn't going today."
Before Mark could answer, Debbie's voice rose from downstairs, crossing through the closed door.
"Boys! William and Amber are here!"
Mark looked at the door.
Then at Eve.
She had already taken half a step toward the window when he raised his hand, as if remembering the obvious part too late.
"Wait." Mark moved a little closer. "Seriously, we can all go. Even if you're not going to college, it could still be fun."
Eve stopped.
The pink energy beginning to form around her weakened until it disappeared. Her gaze went to the window, then to Mark, then to Kai, as if she were trying to calculate how much that idea still made sense after everything she had just said.
The refusal almost made it out.
Then exhaled, something between exhaustion and reluctant curiosity winning out.
"Okay."
Kai slowly turned his face, mockery already leaking out before the sentence even came.
"Damn. Looks like I didn't get out of having to endure Amber's plans during the trip."
Eve raised an eyebrow at him.
"I'm going home first. I have some things to take care of." She pointed lightly toward the window. "Can you guys pick me up at my house?"
Mark nodded at once.
"Yeah. Of course."
Eve walked to the window, opening it just enough to look down and make sure no one was watching outside. The pink glow wrapped around her feet first, then rose around her body in a discreet layer.
"Later, you guys are going to tell me what this plan of Amber's is."
Mark brought a hand to the back of his neck, embarrassment appearing on his face far too quickly.
"Plan? What plan?"
Kai let out a low laugh.
Mark's backpack lifted off the bed and flew toward him.
Mark caught it against his chest in surprise.
"Hey!"
Kai was already on his feet, passing him toward the door.
"Let's go before your girlfriend comes up and starts the interrogation."
From downstairs, William's impatient voice crossed the house.
"Did you guys die up there?"
Mark let out a breath, adjusted the backpack on his shoulder, and followed Kai out of the room.
Almost Four Hours Later — Upstate University — 2:02 PM
The drive to Upstate had been long enough to turn any excited conversation into comfortable silence.
William drove almost the entire way. Amber took the front seat, alternating between checking the map, teasing Mark, and correcting William whenever he seemed too confident about an exit.
Mark sat in the back with Kai and Eve, who had gotten in last after they found her near her house. No one commented on what they had seen.
Hours earlier, the Wilkins' front door had still been open when they arrived. Adam was outside, too rigid to look merely worried. Betsy held one hand near her chest, as if she wanted to say something and had not managed to. Eve came down the sidewalk with two bags far too large for a single weekend, and her face closed in that specific way of someone who had decided not to look back.
Amber even opened her mouth when Eve entered the car, but closed it before turning concern into a question. Mark looked through the rearview mirror, met Eve's eyes for half a second, then looked away. William, miraculously, understood the mood and only turned the radio on low.
After that, the road did the rest.
When they finally arrived, Upstate was bathed in afternoon light.
The campus spread out in wide lawns, pale brick buildings, trees with almost no leaves, and paths full of students carrying books, backpacks, and coffee cups. The place had that strange weekend college energy: too many people walking without hurry, laughter coming from somewhere distant, low music escaping open windows, and groups sitting on the grass as if class were a distant possibility.
William parked on a side street near campus.
"We arrived in one piece." He turned off the car and spread his arms, proud.
Amber unbuckled her seatbelt and stared at the angle of the car compared to the curb.
"A debatable victory."
Mark got out of the back seat with immediate relief, stretching his shoulders.
Kai was the last to get out, closing the door carefully and looking around.
"Four hours in a car to look at buildings, grass, and people pretending they know what they're doing."
Eve adjusted the backpack on her shoulder, her face a little lighter than it had been at the beginning of the trip.
"Sounds like school, just with more coffee."
William was already on the sidewalk, shielding his eyes with one hand while searching for someone among the students passing along the main path. He turned his body from side to side, stretching his neck until he found what he wanted.
"Found him."
A blond guy was coming toward them.
He was tall, with broad shoulders and an athletic build that drew attention even without trying. He wore a simple jacket open over a T-shirt, jeans, and worn sneakers. His light hair was slightly messed up by the wind, and there was an easy confidence about him, the kind that seemed too natural to be rehearsed.
William opened a huge smile.
"Everyone, this is Rick. A friend of mine."
Rick approached with an open expression, extending his hand to Mark first.
"You must be Mark."
Mark shook his hand.
"That's me. And this is Amber."
Amber smiled politely, shaking Rick's hand with discreet curiosity.
"Hi."
Rick turned to Eve.
"And you are?"
She nodded, returning the greeting.
"Eve."
Finally, Rick looked at Kai.
Kai held his gaze with the same neutral expression as always before shaking his hand.
"Kai."
Amber looked around the campus, already slipping into organized mode.
"So you're William's friend who's going to show us around Upstate?"
Rick let out a short, light laugh, as if the idea was good but incomplete.
"Not today." He pointed his thumb toward the campus behind him. "You guys arrived a day early and you're staying for the weekend, right?"
William spread his arms again, far too excited.
"Exactly."
Rick smiled.
"So today, we're going to a college party." His gaze moved over the whole group, as if that settled any doubt. "You're going to experience Upstate the right way."
William practically lit up.
"That's what I'm talking about."
Amber tilted her head, considering the idea for a few seconds. Then she looked at Mark, Eve, and Kai, and her smile gained that shine of an inevitable social plan.
"Actually, that could be fun."
Mark agreed quickly, maybe a little relieved that Amber was excited.
"Yeah. Sounds cool."
Eve did not look exactly excited, but she did not seem against it either. She was just there, observing the campus like someone who had accepted the trip before deciding what to feel about it.
Kai stood beside her, hands in his pockets, looking at a group of students crossing the lawn carrying boxes of drinks as if that confirmed all his suspicions.
He made a quiet sound that wasn't quite a sigh.
"This seems like a terrible way to judge a university."
Eve followed his gaze.
One of the students almost dropped a box, caught it in a panic, and received exaggerated applause from his friends.
She shrugged.
"Since we're here..."
Kai glanced sideways at her.
"That's the kind of sentence that comes before bad decisions."
This time, Eve truly smiled, small and quick.
"Then it fits a college visit."
Ahead of them, William was already following Rick into the campus, too excited to wait for the rest of the group to catch up. Amber pulled Mark by the sleeve and started walking after them.
Which left Kai and Eve trailing behind the group.
Rick walked a few steps ahead before looking over his shoulder, as if he had just remembered no one there had eaten properly since they hit the road.
"After the long trip, I imagine you guys want to grab something to eat."
William raised his hand at once.
"Finally, someone sensible."
Amber let out a short laugh, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder.
"I support that."
Mark nodded. "Food sounds great."
And so they followed. Rick guided everyone along the side of campus toward a diner with a simple facade, wide windows, and a slightly worn red sign above the entrance.
On the way, William walked far too close to Rick for someone so excited to pretend normalcy. He laughed at every comment, leaned toward him when he spoke, and seemed to have forgotten there were four other people right behind them.
Kai watched that for long enough.
Then he tilted his face slightly toward Mark, Eve, and Amber.
"Is it just me, or does William play for the other team?"
Mark followed his gaze to the two ahead.
William was gesturing too much, Rick was smiling patiently, and the whole scene seemed to carry an obvious caption.
Mark shrugged. "Dude, I had no idea."
The conversation was interrupted because they reached the diner right after.
The place smelled of hot grease, toasted bread, and strong coffee. Inside, Formica tables were scattered near the windows, some occupied by college students with trays, open books, and conversations far too loud for such a small place. A television hanging in the corner showed some game with no sound, while an employee behind the counter called out order numbers with the energy of someone who had already repeated it a hundred times that day.
Rick pushed the glass door open.
The bell above it rang.
And before anyone could properly step inside, the group came face to face with two familiar faces sitting at a table near the wall.
Becky.
Derick.
The diner noise dropped out around them.
Becky had a cup of soda in her hand, her hair tied back carelessly and an expression that began in surprise before noticing Kai. Their eyes met too briefly for anyone else to understand, and too long to be nothing.
But Derick's excitement saved the space.
He pushed his chair back with so much force that it almost hit the table behind him.
"No way." A smile opened on his face all at once. "The Grayson Twins, holy shit!"
Mark blinked, and then surprise turned into joy.
"Derick?"
Derick was already heading toward him.
The two greeted each other with that quick hug of friends who had gone too long without seeing each other and tried to make up for it with the impact. Derick slapped Mark's back twice, stepped away, and looked him up and down.
"You got stronger, man. Annoying."
Mark laughed. "You too."
"Yeah, I've been doing some push-ups, you know how it is. College is coming, time to be popular." Without losing momentum, Derick turned to Kai and extended his hand with the same enthusiasm. "Kai!"
Kai accepted the greeting, the corner of his mouth moving slightly.
"Derick."
Derick shook his hand and raised his eyebrows, looking over his arm. "Fuck, I thought I was strong." He looked at Mark, still holding Kai's hand. "I take it back. Our master here needs to tell us the secret. Aren't you guys twins?"
Mark answered with light disdain. "We are, but only one of us eats enough for a small army."
Derick laughed.
Becky stood soon after, more slowly.
She greeted Mark first, with a smile that looked natural enough to hide any discomfort.
"Mark."
"Becky. It's been a while."
"It has."
When she reached Kai, her hand met his for only a second. The greeting was simple, but her gaze stayed a little longer than it should have.
"Kai."
"Becky."
Nothing else.
Mark, oblivious to what had happened, turned to Amber with a smile.
"This is Amber. My girlfriend."
Amber approached politely, but with clear curiosity in her eyes.
"Hi. Nice to meet you."
Becky seemed to return fully to the present. Her mocking air reappeared almost like a natural defense.
"So you're Mark's girlfriend." She looked Amber up and down, not with malice, just with an assessment too quick to be innocent. "Okay. Makes sense."
Mark frowned.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That she looks patient." Becky turned her face to Eve before he could complain. "And so, if she's Mark's girlfriend, the redhead must be Kai's girlfriend..."
Eve raised an eyebrow.
Becky continued, turning her gaze to Rick and William right after.
"And you two are a couple."
William froze for a second.
The reaction was quick, but not quick enough. His face betrayed the embarrassment before his mouth found an answer.
Rick only laughed quietly, far too calm to help.
Eve crossed her arms.
"I can't speak for those two, but on my end, you're very wrong."
Becky laughed, raising her hands.
"I'm joking, relax. No one would want to date Kai. Pretty face, but being around him feels like attending a funeral."
William let out a nervous laugh and pointed at her.
"Were you always like this?"
Derick answered before she could.
"Worse. Today she's actually friendlier."
Becky hit his shoulder with the back of her hand.
Mark looked from Becky to Derick, his excitement giving way to delayed confusion.
"So, you two want to go to Upstate too?" He narrowed his eyes, realizing the pair belatedly. "But wait. Why are you together? Don't tell me you're..."
Becky and Derick made the same disgusted expression at the same time.
"Gross," Becky cut in at once.
Derick brought a hand to his chest, too dramatic to look genuinely offended.
"Dude, I know I got hotter, but limits exist."
Becky turned to him with sincere revulsion.
"Don't make it worse."
Derick ignored her.
"Okay, you guys remember last year, when we ran into each other at the mall and I said my parents had split up?"
Mark kept staring at the two of them.
"Yeah. And?"
Becky leaned her hip against the edge of the table, crossing her arms.
"His dad married my mom."
Kai, who until then had seemed content to observe the social tragedy from a distance, finally reacted.
His eyes opened a little wider.
"Janet?"
Becky's face closed immediately.
Kai burst out laughing.
Not a corner smile. A real laugh, short, surprised, and cruel in just the right measure.
"Looks like you two are siblings now."
Becky pointed at him before the sentence could even settle.
"Shut up."
Kai kept smiling.
Derick raised both hands, as if presenting a family tragedy to an audience.
"Technically, half-siblings. Morally, victims."
"Especially me," Becky added.
Mark laughed, Amber did too, and even Eve let a smile escape.
For an instant, the strangeness of running into old acquaintances in a college diner seemed to be only that. Strangeness. Coincidence. A piece of normal life crossing their path.
But when the laughter faded, Becky looked at Kai again.
This time, the mockery did not come with it.
There was something stuck there. An old question. A conversation that had never happened. A discomfort she carried well enough for no one to notice, except maybe the person who had caused it.
Kai noticed.
Becky looked away first, picking up the cup on the table and stirring the straw without drinking.
The diner remained loud around them.
William was already pulling a chair out for Rick. Amber was asking where to place orders. Mark and Derick went back to talking as if a year apart could be compressed into five minutes.
Eve looked from Becky to Kai for a moment without saying anything.
Kai simply slipped his hands into his pockets.
The day at Upstate, apparently, had just become more interesting.
One Hour Later — Upstate University — 3:28 PM
The diner was left behind with the bell above the door still vibrating behind them.
The campus air felt fresher after the smell of grease, coffee, and fries. The sun was still high, spreading golden light over the lawns and university buildings.
Derick and Becky went down a side path, the two arguing about something related to where they had left their bags. Derick gestured too much, while Becky walked beside him with her arms crossed, answering with that expression of someone who could no longer stand sharing a last name, even if only because their parents had married.
Mark, Kai, Eve, Amber, William, and Rick took the opposite path, crossing an open square at the center of campus.
William walked near Rick, still far too excited. Amber walked beside Mark, looking at the place with genuine interest. Eve came a little behind, silent, observing students sitting on the grass, groups crossing the square, and party posters stuck to poles.
Kai followed with his hands in his pockets.
The normality lasted three more seconds.
The explosion came from the other side of the square.
The ground burst upward in a column of concrete, dirt, and smoke. Students screamed before even understanding what had happened. A bicycle flew spinning through the air and landed on a broken bench. Nearby windows shook, and a crack ran across the pavement like a dark line.
Something rose from inside the crater.
At first, it looked like a machine.
Then the human part appeared.
The body was too wide, too irregular, made of metal, cables, and plates cruelly attached to what was still left of a person. The mechanical arms ended in heavy hands, with thick steel fingers. The legs were twisted hydraulic supports, digging into the ground with every movement. From the torso up, almost everything was armor, except for a grotesque strip of exposed skin at the center and the lower part of a human face trapped beneath a robotic structure covering the skull.
The creature released a low sound.
Not exactly a roar.
A broken, metallic grunt, too human beneath the distortion.
It brought its hands to its own head, squeezing the plates as if something inside it were burning. Then it slammed its fists into the ground.
The impact opened another crack.
Screams spread across the square.
The creature grabbed a parked car near the sidewalk and threw it without direction. The vehicle tore across part of the lawn, flipping over until it struck a tree with a crash that made everyone dive away.
Across the square, Becky stopped.
Her eyes found Kai in the middle of the chaos.
For one second, neither of them moved.
It was clear that both of them knew exactly who they had been in the past, but this was not the time for that.
Kai looked at Mark and Eve.
He did not need to say anything.
The three disappeared almost at the same time.
Amber took a step back when the space beside her became empty.
"Mark?"
But chaos swallowed the question.
People ran in every direction. One student tripped and knocked another down. An outdoor table flipped over. Someone was screaming for help near the sidewalk.
Amber moved before she had even finished searching for Mark with her eyes.
She knelt beside a woman who had fallen near a flower bed, held her by the arms, and helped her stand.
"Can you walk?"
The woman nodded quickly, too pale to answer properly.
Amber pulled her behind a low wall and turned her face, searching for her boyfriend among the crowd.
"Mark, help me he—"
The sentence died.
Mark was no longer there.
Neither was Kai.
Nor Eve.
Amber's face closed.
Not with fear.
With incomplete understanding, irritated and growing less patient by the second.
Across the square, a metal sign, torn from the facade of a nearby building by the shockwave, came loose from its remaining bolts and began to fall over two fallen students.
Becky moved.
Too fast.
Her body crossed the distance before Derick had finished turning his head. Her hands caught the side of the sign in the air, her arms tightening, her feet sliding across the concrete. For an instant, the entire sign seemed ready to crush her along with the two students.
Then Becky pushed.
The metal toppled forward, scraping the ground, and lodged itself at an angle in front of her like an improvised barrier between Derick, the two students, and the rest of the square.
Derick's eyes went wide.
"Holy shit, you were fast." He looked from the sign to her, then to his own feet, as if trying to calculate the distance. "How did you do that?"
Becky drew a deep breath, her fingers still locked around the edge of the metal.
"Adrenaline, I guess."
Derick stared at the sign.
Then at Becky.
"That's some good adrenaline."
She shot him a look that ended the conversation.
A few yards away, an out-of-control van rolled off the curb, pushed by the impact of another thrown car. Two students froze in its path, unsure where to run.
A pink light crossed the air.
Atom Eve appeared in front of the van already transformed, her pink-and-white uniform shining beneath the sun. Her hand opened, and the front of the vehicle dissolved into particles before touching the students. Metal turned into rigid foam, tires transformed into soft blocks, and the van lost strength until it stopped only a few inches from them.
"Run!"
The two did not need to hear it twice.
Eve turned her face toward Amber, who was dragging another student away from the open area.
The robotic creature advanced across the square in irregular movements, as if every step were fighting against different commands. The partially human face twisted beneath the mechanical mask. The sound coming from it alternated between a grunt and a groan.
William and Rick were running toward a line of trees when the creature changed targets.
It was too fast for something that heavy.
The mechanical arm crossed the space and grabbed Rick by the neck, lifting him off the ground as if he weighed nothing. The force of the movement knocked William down, sending him sliding on his back across the concrete until he hit near a broken bench.
"Rick!"
Rick grabbed the metal wrist with both hands, his feet kicking the air, his face turning red as he tried to pull in air.
William staggered to his feet, eyes wide, hands searching for anything on the ground. He found a rock the size of a fist, squeezed it tightly, and threw it at the creature's head.
The rock struck the metal side with a useless crack.
The creature turned.
The mechanical face tilted toward William.
Rick was thrown aside, rolling across the grass until he struck the base of a tree.
William took one step back.
The creature advanced on him.
Before the first blow could come down, two figures cut through the air.
Invincible collided with the creature's chest.
Infinity struck its side at the same instant.
The combined impact ripped the creature off the ground and launched it away, sending it across the square until it crashed into the central fountain. Water exploded in every direction, falling over cracked concrete, grass, and students still fleeing.
William stood still.
The wind from the impact still moved his hair.
Invincible landed in front of him.
Infinity stayed a few yards ahead, sideways to the creature, eyes fixed on the enemy.
William looked at one.
Then the other.
His mouth slowly opened.
"I don't believe it." His voice came out low at first, then gained far too much force. "I knew it. Kai and Mark."
Mark turned at once.
"Dude, don't tell anyone."
William pointed at him with both hands trembling between panic and triumph.
"You just confirmed it!"
"No, I—"
Kai did not look back.
The creature was getting up.
The robotic body trembled, its metal fingers digging into the wet concrete around the fountain. It released another groan, this time louder, more desperate. The sound made some people stop for a second before they started running again.
Eve continued on the other side of the square, helping Amber push a group of students into a building. With one gesture, she transformed chunks of concrete into light barriers, guiding the crowd away from the fountain.
Amber stayed with her, pulling people, pointing out exits, but her eyes returned to Mark whenever they could.
The creature took one step out of the water.
Kai advanced while Mark got William away from there.
The side kick struck the mechanical torso with enough force to bend a metal plate inward. The creature staggered, but tried to strike back with a heavy arm. Kai slid under the blow, turned on his axis, and landed three quick strikes on the joints of the shoulder, the elbow, and the side of the skull.
Metal cracked.
The creature tried to grab him.
Kai was already gone.
He appeared on the other side, drove his knee into the armored ribcage, and followed with an upward punch to the upper part of the robotic head.
The piece cracked.
The second blow tore off half the covering.
The third finished the job.
The upper mask came loose with a horrible snap and fell into the fountain water.
What was underneath made Kai stop for half a second.
A human face.
Or what was left of one.
Pale, deformed skin, attached to cables that entered through the temples and the back of the neck. Wide eyes, filled with terror. The lower mouth, the only part that had already looked human before, opened and closed as if trying to form a forgotten word.
Mark landed beside Kai, floating inches above the wet ground.
"What the fuck is this?"
The creature did not attack.
Not immediately.
It turned its broken face.
The water in the fountain, stirred by the impact, began to settle into small ripples. And there, on the trembling surface, the reflection appeared.
Metal.
Flesh.
Cables.
A monster wearing what was left of a man.
The human eye widened even further.
The creature brought its hands to its own face, touching skin, wires, exposed metal. The sound that came out of it changed. It stopped being a roar. Became something smaller. More broken.
More conscious.
Kai felt his body tense.
The creature moved before they could do anything.
Not toward Mark.
Not toward Kai.
It threw itself into the center of the fountain.
The decorative structure raised in the middle, a sharp metal frame broken by the earlier impact, pierced through the mechanical chest and what remained of flesh behind it.
The sound was short.
Violent.
Then silence.
The creature stayed pinned there, half-kneeling inside the water, its arms falling to the sides, its uncovered human head tilted forward as if it had finally stopped fighting something inside itself.
The entire square seemed to hold its breath.
Mark descended until his feet touched the ground.
Kai stood beside him, his eyes hidden by the mask but fixed on the destroyed face of the thing.
William remained near the tree, Rick sitting on the grass beside him, breathing with difficulty and holding his own neck.
The sun kept shining over Upstate, and thanks to them, no one had been hurt.
None of the three moved first.
Sirens began to rise in the distance.
Kai's eyes moved to Mark and Eve.
And the three rose almost at the same time.
The square was left behind in waves of confusion beginning to organize themselves.
The ambulance arrived soon after, braking near the lawn. Paramedics ran with bags and stretchers, only to find frightened students, a few light falls, small cuts, and no serious injuries besides the dead thing inside the fountain. Police formed a perimeter around the crater and the body, pushing back onlookers, while professors and staff tried to guide the students away.
Little by little, panic became noise.
People talking loudly.
Phones raised.
Someone crying from nerves.
Someone laughing because they did not know what to do with their trembling body.
Becky and Derick left with a group of students, passing along the side of the square. Derick looked back every three steps, still trying to understand what he had seen and trying to check whether his friends were okay in the middle of the chaos. Becky, on the other hand, kept her face turned forward, but her eyes searched the sky one last time before disappearing among the others. Unlike Derick, she knew they were fine.
Minutes later, Mark, Kai, and Eve reappeared in normal clothes near a side street, away from the most crowded area.
Mark was adjusting the collar of his jacket. Eve wore the expression of someone who had only stepped away to look for help. Kai had his hands in his pockets, his face too neutral for someone who had just watched a creature choose to die after recognizing its own reflection.
They found the rest of the group near a stone staircase, away from the crowd.
Rick was sitting on one step, a bottle of water between his hands, breathing better. There were red marks around his neck, nothing serious.
William stood beside him, restless, switching between checking if Rick was all right and looking at Mark and Kai with the expression of someone who had discovered the most absurd secret of his life.
Amber was standing.
Arms crossed.
Face closed.
As soon as Mark approached, she took one step toward him.
"Where exactly were you?"
Mark stopped.
"Amber—"
"No." She raised a hand, cutting off the attempt before it could become an excuse. "A huge thing appears in the middle of campus, starts throwing cars, and you disappear. I was pulling people off the ground, looking for you, calling you, and you simply weren't there."
Mark looked around.
William went quiet immediately.
Rick looked away, pretending to be interested in the bottle.
Eve stayed still beside Kai, but her eyes went to Mark with silent concern.
Kai slowly let out a breath through his nose.
This was going to happen sooner or later.
Amber continued, her voice lower now, but much worse because of it.
"And it wasn't the first time."
Mark swallowed.
"Let's talk."
"Now?"
"Please."
Amber kept looking at him until anger lost the first round. Then she turned toward the street, breathing like she had only postponed the explosion.
The whole group felt the mood change.
William opened his mouth, closed it again, and looked at Rick.
Kai simply turned his face toward campus, pretending he was not hearing what everyone was hearing.
Eve lightly touched Amber's arm before she moved away.
Amber did not reject the gesture, but she did not respond either.
Mark and Amber walked away together.
Minutes Later — Visitor Housing — Upstate University — 4:03 PM
The room was too simple for a conversation that size.
Two narrow beds, a desk, light curtains, a built-in closet, and a window facing a wooded area behind the building. Outside, the campus was still agitated, but the sound reached them muffled through the walls.
Amber stood near the desk, arms crossed, her weight resting on one leg. Her irritation no longer had the explosive heat from the square. Now it was worse. Firmer. More organized.
Mark closed the door behind him.
He stood there with the horrible certainty that every possible sentence already began wrong.
"I have an explanation."
Amber did not move.
"Then explain."
Mark ran a hand through his hair.
The lie came first.
As always.
Some fake emergency. Some phone call. Something about looking for help.
He looked at Amber and realized none of them would survive even halfway.
"Okay."
Mark went to the window and opened it.
Amber frowned.
"Mark, what are you doing?"
He looked outside, then at her.
"Just... wait a few seconds."
Before she could answer, Mark went out through the window.
Amber took a startled step forward, but he did not fall.
He flew.
His shadow disappeared above the line of trees, and the room went quiet.
Amber closed her eyes for an instant.
Not from surprise.
From anger.
A few seconds later, a figure landed outside the window.
Invincible entered the room carefully, as if climbing through a window in full uniform were a situation normal enough to require delicacy. The mask hid part of his face, but it did not hide Mark. Not from her. Not anymore.
He stood in front of her, arms half-open, unsure whether this was a revelation or a confession of guilt.
"I'm Invincible."
Amber kept her arms crossed.
Her expression did not change.
"Do you really think I didn't know?"
Mark froze.
The sentence hit harder than anything he had expected.
"You knew?"
Amber let out a short laugh, without any humor.
"Mark, you disappeared every time with terrible excuses." She pointed at his uniform, irritation rising again. "And suddenly, two heroes show up who look a lot like you and your brother. One with dark hair. The other with bleached white hair."
Mark opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Amber took one step toward him.
"Did you really think I wouldn't notice? Do you think I'm stupid?"
"I didn't—"
"And it gets worse, today I figured out Eve too." She cut him off before the attempted defense could take shape.
Mark went still.
"Atom Eve," Amber said, almost laughing at how absurd it was. "Of course she is."
"Amber..."
"So what am I, Mark? The only person in the room who wasn't allowed to know?"
"No, no." He pulled the mask up, revealing his face fully. "I didn't tell everyone. Only Eve knew."
Amber narrowed her eyes.
"Only Eve knew."
Mark realized too late how that had sounded.
"It wasn't like that."
"No?"
"She figured it out. I mean, it wasn't something I just decided to tell her and hide from you." He stepped closer, hands open, trying to hold the conversation before it slipped away completely. "Amber, I wanted to tell you. I just... didn't know how."
Her expression remained hard.
"Are you two really just friends?"
Mark blinked.
"What?"
Amber did not back down.
"You heard me."
He took another step toward her, his face exposed, tired and desperate for at least that part to be clear.
"Of course we are. I'm with you, Amber."
She stared into his eyes.
"Are you? Because when I suggested setting Eve up with your brother, you hesitated. Every time."
Mark had no answer for half a second, long enough to reveal that the sentence had found something.
"I just thought it was weird."
"Mark."
He closed his hand and opened it again.
"I don't want to be with Eve. I'm with you, Amber."
Amber kept looking at him.
"But you also didn't want her to be with Kai."
The answer did not come.
Amber drew a deep breath, looking away before the anger could turn into something else.
"You know what?" She picked up her bag from the bed. "I need to think."
Mark took a step back, as if she had pushed him without touching him.
"Amber—"
"I'll see you at the party later."
She walked past him toward the door.
Mark turned with her.
"But where are you going?"
Amber opened the door and looked back.
"To think, Mark." Her fingers tightened around the knob. "Think."
The door closed between them.
Mark stayed in the room, still in uniform, the mask crushed in one hand and the open window behind him letting the cold wind in.
Outside, the campus remained noisy.
Inside the room, for the first time since he had decided to tell the truth, Mark was not sure whether it had come too early or too late.
Elsewhere, Later — Mauler Twins' Laboratory — 8:42 PM
The main tank occupied the center of the laboratory like a scientific altar.
Inside it, the green liquid moved in slow currents, lit by rows of cold lamps and monitors connected to thick cables. Bubbles rose at regular intervals. Sensors attached to the glass recorded nonexistent heartbeats, cellular growth, muscle density, nervous activity, and dozens of other readings stacking across the screens around it.
Inside the tank, the thing still did not look like a person.
Not completely.
It was tissue growing over an incomplete structure. Thin tendons extended like wet threads. Organs formed in layers, pulsing irregularly as new connections appeared between muscle mass, vessels, and fragments of bone still too fragile to support any weight. Day after day, it stopped being only matter and began to approach a body.
Robot remained a few yards away, motionless before the glass.
The Mauler Twins stood beside the tank. One monitored the data on a cracked screen. The other adjusted nutrient valves on the lower panel, muttering under his breath whenever one of the pumps made noise.
Robot approached until the green light touched the red metal of his armor.
"Your progress is satisfactory."
One of the Maulers slowly turned his neck.
"Satisfactory?" He pointed at the tank with a massive metal wrench, still dirty with fluid. "What has it been? Not even twenty days since we started working on this. Do you have any idea how hard it is to grow tissue from scratch this fast?"
Robot kept his visor turned toward the developing mass.
"I do."
The dry answer seemed to irritate the Mauler more than a denial would have.
Robot continued before he could turn it into a speech.
"That is why I made the deal and hired you. You are the only ones currently in possession of this knowledge."
The Mauler lifted his chin, irritation giving way to immediate pride.
"Exactly."
The other stepped away from the panel, wiping his hands on a cloth that had probably been white at some point in its life.
"So tell us." He looked at the tank, then at Robot. "What exactly is this thing for? And whose DNA was that?"
Robot did not look away from the glass.
"Your work does not depend on those answers."
The Mauler holding the wrench let out a short laugh.
"No. It doesn't."
The other walked a few steps around the tank, observing the incomplete shape floating in the green liquid.
"But we had an agreement." He stopped near Robot, large enough for the difference in size to feel like a threat. "And our work requires payment."
Robot finally turned his visor to them.
There was no hurry in the movement.
"When it is ready, you will have what I promised." The light from the monitors reflected on the smooth surface of his metallic face. "The payment. The resources. And the information about where the Immortal's body is."
The two Maulers fell silent.
Robot took one more step toward the tank, enough to make it clear that the conversation would not change anything.
"You will receive nothing. Not one second before you complete the work."
"But that could take weeks!" The Mauler with the wrench tightened his fingers around the metal, his jaw locking.
The other stared at Robot long enough to calculate whether it was worth trying to rip the information from him by force.
The laboratory lights hummed.
Inside the tank, a newly formed muscle contracted once, small and grotesque, as if the incomplete body had reacted to the silence.
At last, one of the Maulers turned aside and returned to the panel.
"Fine. Whatever."
The other kept looking at Robot a little longer before following his twin.
"But when that thing is standing, you pay."
In the green liquid, the thing continued slowly growing.