The response from Dover Global Security was terrifyingly swift.
Less than eight minutes after the frantic call, three matte-black, armor-plated SUVs descended upon the concrete underpass, completely blockading the shattered remains of the private bus.
Marcus, the towering head of security, practically tore the doors of the SUV open.
His usually stoic face was carved out of granite, his eyes scanning the shadows of the overpass with lethal intent before he ordered his men to secure the perimeter.
They whisked Chloe away to her own heavily guarded estate, while Airis was escorted into the back of Marcus's vehicle.
The ride back to Riverdale was conducted in absolute, suffocating silence.
Airis kept her hands folded neatly in her lap, her expression carefully molded into a mask of residual shock.
Internally, she was perfectly fine, running a mental inventory of her AP Calculus homework.
When the SUV finally breached the wrought-iron gates of the Dover estate, the front doors of the mansion were already wide open.
Airis barely had time to step out of the vehicle before she was engulfed.
"Airis! Oh my god, Airis!"
Victoria Dover didn't look like a glamorous, composed artist today.
Her hair was completely disheveled, her silk blouse was wrinkled, and her face was streaked with tears.
She threw her arms around her daughter with a desperate, crushing force, burying her face into Airis's shoulder.
"Mom, I'm okay. I'm unharmed," Airis said softly, raising her hands to return the embrace.
"They said the doors were blown off,"
Victoria sobbed, her manicured fingers gripping the fabric of Airis's blazer as if she were afraid the girl might vaporize.
"They said there were men on the bus. Oh, my sweet girl. I was so terrified. I thought I had lost you."
For Lin Ye, the twenty-seven-year-old soul harboring a lifetime of orphaned isolation, the sheer, unfiltered intensity of Victoria's terror was a profound shock.
In his past life, if he had been caught in a bus hijacking, the only entity that would have called to check on him was his manager—and only to ask if he was still coming in for his shift.
Here, a woman was weeping into her shoulder, her entire world visibly shaken by the mere threat of harm to her daughter.
Airis closed her eyes, letting her carefully constructed facade drop just a fraction.
The tears welling in her eyes this time weren't entirely fabricated. They were born from an overwhelming, aching gratitude.
"I'm right here, Mom," Airis whispered, resting her chin on Victoria's head.
"I'm perfectly safe."
Mrs. Gable stood in the doorway, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, while Marcus stood respectfully to the side, his jaw tight with professional failure.
Victoria eventually pulled back, her hands still cupping Airis's face, inspecting her for any microscopic scratch or bruise.
Finding none, she ushered Airis into the mansion, leading her directly to the grand living room and sitting her down on the plush velvet sofa.
Mrs. Gable immediately appeared with a cup of hot, sweetened tea.
For the next few hours, the estate was on absolute lockdown.
Security personnel in dark suits patrolled the manicured gardens, their earpieces buzzing with constant chatter.
Then, just as the sun fully set, the low, rhythmic thumping of rotor blades echoed through the night air.
Airis looked up from her tea. A private helicopter was touching down on the estate's rear helipad.
Less than two minutes later, the double doors of the living room swung open.
Alexander Dover had been in Geneva, a nine-hour flight away.
He must have boarded his supersonic private jet the very second Victoria called him, burning hundreds of thousands of dollars in aviation fuel just to cross the Atlantic in record time.
He was still wearing his bespoke charcoal suit, but his tie was ripped off, his collar was unbuttoned, and the usual cold, calculating aura of the billionaire CEO was completely shattered.
His eyes, normally sharp and assessing, were wide with a frantic, primitive panic.
"Airis," Alexander breathed, his voice cracking.
He crossed the massive room in long,
desperate strides, dropping to his knees right in front of the sofa.
He pulled her into a hug so tight it would have bruised her ribs if not for the Aegis Bioskin.
"Dad," Airis murmured, genuinely startled.
Alexander buried his face in her golden-blonde hair, his broad shoulders shaking slightly.
"I'm here. I'm here, sweetheart. I've got you."
He pulled back, his hands gripping her shoulders.
He looked at her with such fierce, protective intensity that it made Lin Ye's soul ache.
"Did they touch you?" Alexander demanded, his voice dropping into a low, terrifying growl that promised absolute ruin to anyone who had dared.
"Did they lay a single hand on you?"
"No, Dad. They just... they yelled. They broke the window and ran,"
Airis answered, keeping her voice small, playing the role of the frightened teenager perfectly.
Alexander let out a long, ragged exhale, his forehead resting against hers for a brief second.
Then, he stood up, his posture shifting from a terrified father back to a warlord. He looked at Marcus, who was standing at attention near the door.
"I want the city torn apart, Marcus,"
Alexander ordered, his voice cold as liquid nitrogen.
"I want every mercenary, every private investigator, and every favor called in. I don't care if they were running from the police.
I don't care who they are. They boarded my daughter's bus. I want them found."
"Sir," Marcus stepped forward, his voice low, glancing cautiously at Airis and Victoria.
"The initial reports from the scene... the metal of the partition wasn't cut. It was melted.
And the security cameras on the highway experienced massive electromagnetic interference exactly when the hijackers boarded."
Alexander froze.
Airis watched her father carefully. She saw the microscopic widening of his eyes, the sudden tightening of his jaw.
Alexander Dover knew.
He didn't know about Airis's powers, but he remembered the Level-9 Black classified files he had hit when investigating Lin Ye's parents.
He remembered the unexplainable sinkhole on the news.
And now, melted steel and electromagnetic interference on his daughter's bus.
He realized that the entities who had boarded that bus were not normal criminals.
They belonged to the hidden, terrifying world that his billions of dollars couldn't easily control.
"Increase the perimeter guard,"
Alexander said, his voice dropping to a near-whisper, the CEO bravado suddenly replaced by a grim, chilling realization.
"No one enters or leaves this estate without my direct authorization. Airis will not be returning to Sakura Crest for the rest of the week. She stays home."
"But Dad, my classes—" Airis started, playing the diligent student.
"Your classes do not matter right now, Airis,"
Alexander interrupted, his tone gentle but absolute. He sat down next to her on the sofa, wrapping an arm securely around her shoulders.
"Nothing matters except your safety."
Victoria sat on her other side, taking Airis's hand.
Sandwiched between them, Airis looked down at her lap.
In her previous life, Lin Ye had spent years dreaming of parents who would fight the world for him.
Now, he had a father who was willing to declare war on the city, and a mother who refused to let go of her hand.
It was intoxicating.
He is terrified, Airis realized, sensing the tension radiating from Alexander's arm.
He thinks he can't protect me against whatever melted that steel. He thinks we are vulnerable.
A small, imperceptible smile touched Airis's lips.
If Alexander Dover only knew. If he knew that his delicate, traumatized seventeen-year-old daughter was currently harboring enough telekinetic power to rip those lightning-wielding hijackers apart at the subatomic level.
If he knew that her skin was coated in an invisible quantum shield that could withstand a nuclear blast.
You don't have to be afraid, Dad, Airis thought, leaning her head against his shoulder, letting the comforting scent of his expensive cologne wash over her.
You protect me from the mundane world.
You handle the money, the schools, and the society.
Her sapphire eyes briefly flashed with a hidden, emerald-green light, invisible to everyone in the room.
But if the supernatural world ever comes to this house... I will handle them.
"It's okay, Dad,"
Airis said aloud, her voice perfectly serene, projecting her [Aura of Serenity] to gently calm her parents' racing hearts.
"I'm home. Everything is going to be perfectly fine."
For the rest of the evening, the Dover family remained in the living room.
They ordered dinner in, and Alexander refused to take a single business call.
He just sat there, watching his daughter with the vigilance of a hawk.
Airis played her part flawlessly. She let herself be coddled.
She let herself be loved. She retreated deep into her slow-paced life, fully accepting the luxurious lockdown.
Outside the high, wrought-iron walls of the estate, the secret factions of the city were hunting each other in the dark.
But inside, under the warm, golden lights of the mansion, the world's most dangerous Esper was quietly, happily drinking her tea.