The hum deepened.
Not drones.
Not helicopters.
Something heavier.
Andrew's eyes snapped to the sky.
Cypriana felt it too — the pressure shift, like the air itself was bracing.
Matt looked up, confused.
Steve squinted.
"What is that?"
Andrew's jaw tightened.
"They've been waiting."
A dark shape broke through the clouds.
Not one.
Three.
High-altitude strike aircraft.
Silent. Precise.
Cypriana's pulse spiked.
"They wouldn't—"
Andrew's voice was flat.
"They would."
A sharp metallic click echoed from somewhere distant.
Andrew's eyes widened slightly.
"Get down."
Too late.
A flash.
Not aimed at Andrew.
Not aimed at Cypriana.
A projectile screamed downward—
Straight toward Matt and Steve.
Cypriana's blood froze.
"NO!"
Matt saw it coming.
He grabbed Steve instinctively.
They couldn't move fast enough.
The missile was locked.
Andrew didn't think.
He reacted.
The violence inside him snapped outward like a whip.
He shot downward in a blur.
Faster than Cypriana had ever seen him move.
He slammed into the airspace between the missile and the boys.
His hands shot forward—
The missile froze inches from Matt's face.
The shockwave cracked windows down the block.
Matt stared at Andrew in horror.
Andrew's teeth were bared.
"Run."
Matt didn't move.
Andrew screamed—
"RUN!"
Steve dragged Matt backward.
The missile trembled violently in Andrew's grip.
Another click.
Another launch.
This time aimed directly at the street.
To eliminate collateral.
To eliminate witnesses.
To eliminate variables.
Cypriana screamed—
"They're targeting everyone!"
Andrew's breathing was feral now.
"They're cleaning the board."
The first missile detonated midair under Andrew's force.
The explosion ripped through him.
Fire swallowed his silhouette.
Cypriana felt the impact through her bones.
"ANDREW!"
He emerged from the smoke—
Bleeding.
Burned.
Eyes blazing.
Not broken.
Enraged.
The second missile screamed toward the boys again.
The military had recalculated.
Primary objective: neutralize secondary powered individuals.
Remove leverage.
Andrew's expression changed.
Something violent cracked fully open inside him.
Not cold.
Not calculated.
Primal.
"You don't touch them."
He launched himself downward again.
He didn't freeze the second missile.
He grabbed it.
Physically.
The heat tore into his hands.
His skin burned.
Cypriana screamed—
"Andrew, let go!"
He looked back at her.
Just for a second.
And in that second—
She saw it.
Not rage.
Not dominance.
Not ego.
Fear.
He wasn't protecting Matt.
He wasn't protecting Steve.
He was protecting her from what killing them would do to her.
The missile detonated.
Direct impact.
The explosion swallowed him completely.
The force blasted outward in a deafening shockwave.
Cars flipped.
Concrete shattered.
Cypriana was thrown violently backward into a building façade.
Her ears rang.
Smoke filled the street.
Matt shielded Steve on the ground.
The aircraft above adjusted again.
Preparing another strike.
Cypriana crawled to the edge of the ruined rooftop.
Coughing.
Shaking.
"Andrew…"
The smoke shifted.
A silhouette stood inside it.
Barely.
Andrew staggered forward.
His hoodie burned away.
His arms raw.
Blood running down his face.
But he was standing.
The military had one more round loaded.
A final precision kinetic strike.
High-velocity.
Armor-piercing.
Designed to eliminate enhanced threats.
Target locked.
Andrew.
Cypriana felt it before it fired.
She screamed—
"MOVE!"
Andrew didn't look at the sky.
He looked at her.
Then at Matt.
Then at Steve.
The strike launched.
Too fast to freeze midair.
Too powerful to redirect fully.
Andrew moved.
Not upward.
Not away.
Toward her.
He slammed into her midair and shoved her sideways with everything he had left.
The strike hit him center mass.
The sound wasn't an explosion.
It was a crack.
Like the sky itself snapping.
Andrew's body jerked violently.
The force carried him backward through the air.
Cypriana screamed—
"NO!"
He crashed into the asphalt below.
Hard.
Too hard.
The aircraft banked away.
Mission accomplished.
Silence fell over the street.
Smoke drifted.
Sirens approached cautiously.
Cypriana dropped to the ground beside him.
Her hands were shaking uncontrollably.
"Andrew… Andrew—"
He was conscious.
Barely.
Blood pooled beneath him.
His breathing was shallow.
Matt and Steve stood frozen several feet away.
They didn't move.
They didn't speak.
Cypriana pressed her hands against his chest instinctively.
"I can fix this— I can—"
Andrew coughed weakly.
Blood on his lips.
He looked smaller now.
Human.
His eyes found hers.
There was no rage left in them.
No power.
Just exhaustion.
"You're… okay."
Her voice shattered.
"Why would you—"
He tried to breathe.
It hurt.
"I told you."
A faint, broken whisper.
"They don't get to hurt you."
Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
"They weren't aiming at me—"
"They were."
He knew.
He always knew.
Her hands trembled.
"Stay with me."
His gaze drifted slightly toward Matt and Steve.
Then back to her.
Something unreadable flickered there.
Not regret.
Not apology.
Just truth.
"I'd do it again."
Her heart broke completely.
"Andrew—"
His breathing faltered.
The sirens were closer now.
Red and blue lights reflecting off broken glass.
Andrew's eyes softened.
For the first time in the entire story—
He looked peaceful.
And then—
They unfocused.
His chest stopped moving.
Cypriana felt the moment it happened.
Like gravity doubling.
Like the world dropping.
She didn't scream.
She didn't move.
She just held him.
Matt stepped forward slowly.
Steve behind him.
Neither of them spoke.
Because there was nothing to say.
Above them—
The sky was empty.