Max didn't move.

The wind was dead. His breath steamed in the cold air as he stood between Liz's pod and two armed forces, a flickering thread of Soulfire clinging to his forearms.

To the east: Chinese military – disciplined, fully geared, surrounding them with armoured transports and laser-guided rifles. Red targeting dots crawled across Max's chest, throat, skull. At least twenty soldiers, all waiting for the word to fire.

To the west: six Americans in sleek, black unmarked combat armour. Chamber Theta – the CIA's off-book Contractor unit. No insignia. No jurisdiction. But Max recognized them immediately. They moved like predators.

At the front was Reverb, their leader. He stood with all the calm of a man who thought in kill probabilities.

Behind him, Crux twitched his fingers like he was tuning invisible strings.

Rewind – the blur – was already gone, vanishing between flickers of time.

"This doesn't need to escalate," Reverb said evenly, voice projected through his earpiece. "We don't want you dead, Max. Just the pod."

Max didn't answer.

His foot shifted slightly in the ash. Soulfire surged up his arm, searing. Not enough. Hellfire still hadn't returned.

Dan knelt behind him, golden aura flickering like a dying candle. He was shielding Chloe and Alyssa with the last of his strength. Victor stood at the flank, shirt soaked in blood, one shoulder hanging loose. His Chimera form wouldn't hold forever.

We're broken, Max thought. And they know it.

The Chinese commander shouted in clipped Mandarin. Max didn't speak the language, but he understood the intent: "Seize the pod. Kill if needed."

The soldiers moved forward in unison.

"We've got twenty seconds!" Victor hissed, stepping forward. "What's the call?"

Max's eyes locked on Reverb.

The American didn't blink.

He raised his hand — two fingers up.

A signal.

Rewind reappeared — right behind Dan.

"NO—!" Max exploded forward—

Too late.

Rewind drove a baton into Dan's kidney. Chloe screamed. The shield collapsed.

"Chamber Theta," Reverb said coldly into his comm, "Advance."

Crux moved like a preacher mid-sermon. He raised both hands — and Dan hit the ground, screaming. No wounds. Just agony. Crux smiled.

Max roared, Soulfire flaring. He hurled it — an arc of golden flame lashing toward Reverb.

The American's revolver was already up.

CRACK.

The shot struck Max in the shoulder and detonated. He spun sideways, blood trailing through the air, and crashed into the ground hard. His ribs howled. His breath vanished.

"Shit—Max!" Victor leapt over him and slammed into a Chinese soldier, breaking the man's arm with a sickening snap. Two more opened fire. Bullets hammered into Victor's chest. He didn't fall.

Yet.

Behind them, Liz's pod began to hum.

A low, vibrating sound — like something enormous exhaling inside the Earth.

Everyone stopped.

Even Reverb.

Even the Chinese.

Liz's pod glowed softly. Gold. Then red. Then gold again.

Chloe staggered back. "She's—she's doing something—"

The ground cracked beneath Max's hand.

He pushed himself up, one arm useless, blood pouring from his collarbone.

"Stay behind me," he rasped.

The Chinese took another step forward.

So did Reverb.

Laser dots danced over Liz's containment shell. The air thickened. The light dimmed.

"Hold," someone muttered. No one listened.

Victor's hands curled into fists. Alyssa was screaming. Dan wasn't moving.

Crux took another step—

And Liz's pod pulsed.

…………………

The hum deepened.

It wasn't mechanical. It wasn't electrical.

It was spiritual – the low, aching resonance of a soul under pressure.

Liz's pod vibrated like it had a heartbeat, and the world around it answered.

The wind reversed. The ash lifted. The sky dimmed without a cloud in sight.

Then came the pulse.

Not light. Not sound.

A compression wave slammed outward from the pod – silent and invisible but with the force of a scream held inside the bones of the earth.

The Chinese soldiers staggered back, some clutching their heads. Reverb flinched for the first time, blinking fast as if recalibrating. Crux's face tightened, nostrils flaring. Victor stumbled forward a step, gritting his teeth. Chloe gasped and dropped to her knees, hands clutching her ears. Dan's golden aura flared and broke into unstable sparks.

Max didn't move— Until he saw the blood.

From behind the pod's glass, Liz's face appeared.

Eyes closed. Brow furrowed. And then—

Blood.

Thin, unrelenting streams slid from the corners of her eyes. From her ears. From her mouth.

Max's heart seized.

"Liz—!"

He staggered forward a step, ignoring the pain lancing through his shoulder, the warnings in his body, the red laser dots tracking his face.

She's bleeding – she's dying—

The pod pulsed again.

The air turned thick. Max felt it against his skin like syrup. Every breath tasted like burnt copper.

Chloe reached for the pod, dazed.

Alyssa was crying openly now, her hands clenched into fists.

Dan, barely conscious, reached out instinctively, golden wisps trailing from his fingers.

"She's in pain," he whispered. "She's suffering…"

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The light inside the pod shifted again.

Red. Gold. Black.

Not colours – temperatures. Emotions. Warnings.

A pressure built in the air – one that didn't stop. Didn't release.

It pressed down on their spines, behind their eyes, in the hollows of their skulls.

Something else was here. Not inside the pod. But looking through it.

Reverb took a half-step back.

"That's not just her," he said quietly.

Crux's lips parted. He said nothing.

Max dropped to one knee, palm pressed to the dirt, trying to stay upright.

He locked eyes with Liz through the bloodied glass.

Her lips were moving.

No sound. No breath. Just shapes.

Speaking to something they couldn't see.

No, no, stay with me – stay with me…

Victor moved beside him. "Max – what is that?"

"I don't know," Max breathed. "But it's killing her."

The pod's outer shell began to crackle – not shatter, but stress-fracture. Like the soulfield itself was warping around her.

The Chinese commander barked something into his comm. Nothing replied.

His radio was dead.

So was Crux's. So was Reverb's. All six members of Chamber Theta turned toward the pod in unison.

Even they could feel it now.

She wasn't just a girl in a pod.

She was a vessel – something burning from the inside out.

A fragment of Aamon pulsed inside her like a dying star, and every soul in range could feel its heat.

Given time, it could awaken armies.

Or incinerate them.

Not a weapon.

A spark – one that could start a war no one was ready for.

The commander didn't wait.

He raised his hand and pointed at the containment shell.

"Take it," he said.

"Now!"

…………………

Agent 714 adjusted the wind dial on her scope.

She didn't need to. There was no wind anymore.

The leaves on the ridge didn't rustle. The smoke from the crash hung motionless in the air like it had been frozen mid-breath. The silence below wasn't natural. It was suppressed. Like the land itself was holding still.

Through the reticle, she saw the standoff unravelling in real time.

To her left: Chamber Theta. CIA's black cell. Six operatives – zero accountability. Reverb, Crux, Rewind. The others hidden or flanking.

Their mission packet had been clear:

"Extract the anomaly. Neutralize local resistance. Containment protocols in effect."

Max Jaeger. Civilian. No military record. No government registry.

And yet…

Anomaly.

A classification used for objects, entities, sometimes places.

Never people.

She exhaled slowly and blinked, letting the neural overlay reassert her vitals. Everything was green. Steady.

But inside?

Nothing about this was steady.

She tracked Max Jaeger now, kneeling in front of the glowing pod. One arm was limp. The other glowed with golden fire.

His mouth was moving – calling to the girl inside.

Elizabeth Jaeger. Sixteen. Comatose. Non-hostile.

And yet the Chinese military had arrived in force to take her. The Americans were willing to kill to retrieve her.

And now – her pod was vibrating like it was alive.

Agent 714's pupils narrowed.

"None of this makes sense," she whispered.

CIA didn't fire on civilians – especially not those protecting a child. They didn't deploy their entire off-book cell over one unconscious girl.

She switched view modes.

Thermal. Dead zone. Electromagnetic.

Nothing coherent came back.

The pod was pulsing radiation – not nuclear, not electrical. Something else. The kind that made instruments glitch and blood pressure spike.

Crux had just made Dan Bailey scream without touching him.

Reverb's revolver could deflect fire.

Rewind moved like time didn't apply.

And yet none of them reacted to the girl the way Max did.

"He's not protecting a target," she murmured. "He's protecting his daughter."

She remembered the briefing. Max was a fireman. A civilian. Until Singapore. Until the explosion. Until the hospital footage went black.

She zoomed in.

Inside the pod, blood streamed from Liz's eyes and mouth.

She didn't move.

But something moved through her.

Agent 714 flinched. Her body reacted before her mind processed it. Her finger brushed the trigger, but she held off.

"What are you, girl?" she whispered.

A warning ping blinked inside her visor:

OVERRIDE DETECTED.

PRIMARY DIRECTIVE UPDATED.

❖ Do not interfere with Chinese military operations. ❖ Observe only.

She stared at the orders.

Her lips curled slightly.

"Why are we letting them take her?"

There was no answer.

Not from the satellite feed. Not from the neural link.

Max shouted something below – wordless, raw. He lunged. Rewind intercepted him.

The girl's pod glowed a deeper shade of blood red.

714 steadied her breathing.

She didn't fire. Didn't speak. Didn't move.

But inside, the questions had started.

And questions, she'd been taught, were the first step to failure.

…………………

The air was wrong.

It didn't move. Didn't breathe. Didn't even taste like air anymore.

Max wiped blood from his mouth and rose to one knee, eyes locked on the pod.

Liz was still bleeding.

Crimson streaks ran down her cheeks, pooled beneath her chin, smeared against the inside of the containment glass like tears that had gone too far. Her body wasn't shaking but it wasn't still either. It twitched, like a puppet mid-command.

And her lips were still moving.

Silently.

What are you trying to say, kiddo? What the hell are you going through in there?

His stomach turned.

He'd seen people die. He'd seen children pulled from burning wreckage. He'd heard the sound of bone snapping against steel. He'd felt the moment April slipped from his hands.

But nothing felt like this.

This was losing her again.

Watching it happen from ten feet away and knowing he couldn't stop it.

"Max!"

Victor's voice snapped him back.

The big man was limping, shoulder dislocated, skin bruised dark beneath the silver tracery of his transformation. He was holding Chloe up by her elbow – she looked half-conscious. Alyssa clung to her, trembling.

"Dan's down," Victor growled. "He's breathing, but barely. I can't fix him. We need to move."

Max didn't answer.

He just stared at the pod. At the girl inside it.

You were never supposed to fight this war. I did this to you. I lit the match and called it salvation.

"Max," Chloe whispered. "She's… she's not okay. Something's hurting her."

"I know."

A laser dot wavered across the back of Victor's head. Another flicked across Alyssa's shoulder. The Chinese were advancing. Methodical. Relentless. Rifles raised. Gloves tightening on triggers.

Behind them, Chamber Theta began to spread out. Reverb stepped to the side, drawing a bead on Max's position. Crux walked calmly, as if rehearsing a sermon.

And all Max could think was:

I'm not ready.

Not strong enough. Not fast enough. Not burning enough.

Hellfire still hadn't come back. Soulfire was flickering, cracked and unstable. And Liz… Liz was dying inside that pod.

He could taste it in his mouth. The copper. The static.

Alyssa's voice broke through, jagged.

"Max… do something!"

He looked at her.

At all of them.

Broken. Bleeding. Barely standing. And still behind him.

Waiting for him.

He clenched his fists.

Pain shot through his arm.

His shoulder screamed.

Good.

That meant he was still alive.

Still moving. Still capable of choosing.

And this time… he wouldn't hesitate.

Max stood.

"Stay here," he said, without looking back.

"Whatever happens next… don't follow."

Victor's eyes widened. "Max—"

But Max was already walking.

One step. Then another. Toward the pod. Toward the enemy. Toward the line no one else dared to cross.

He felt every rifle lock on. Felt the heat rise in his veins. Felt his heartbeat sync with the flickering hum inside Liz's pod.

It was like a countdown. But no one knew what came after zero.

"They're not taking her," Max growled.

"Not while I'm still breathing."

And then— he ran.

…………………

Max moved.

The moment his foot left the ground, twenty laser sights snapped to life. Red dots slid across his chest, shoulders, throat.

He didn't care.

Not anymore.

"No one is taking her," he growled.

"Over my dead body."

And then he broke into a sprint.

The world narrowed.

Behind him, Victor roared — "MAX, WAIT—!"

Too late.

Max crossed the no-man's-land between them and the pod in five strides. Pain lanced through his shoulder. Soulfire flared. Sparks bled from his fingertips.

Crux turned. Rewind blinked into existence – directly in front of him. Reverb raised his revolver.

Too slow, Max thought.

He dropped low, sliding through the ash like a meteor.

Rewind's baton swung down—

Max rolled beneath it and came up with a wide arc of flame that screamed from his palm.

Soulfire cracked against Rewind's armour and knocked the American off balance – not injured, but surprised.

Max didn't pause.

He pivoted, twisted past a Chinese soldier with a rifle, slammed his shoulder into the man's chest—

Crunch.

The soldier folded.

Max kept going.

Just ten more steps—

Three more soldiers rushed him.

Max ducked the first strike, caught a boot to the ribs, but turned the force into momentum. He flung himself forward, straight through the formation – fire spinning in his wake like a broken comet tail.

He reached the pod.

Hands bloody. Breath ragged.

Liz's face was pale. Still. The blood had dried into red rivers down her cheeks.

Max pressed his palm against the glass.

"I've got you."

Then—

Crack.

A round hit him in the back, just below the ribs.

The world tilted.

He dropped to one knee.

Reverb stood across the field, revolver raised. Smoke trailed from the barrel.

"Stand down, Max," Reverb said. "You can't stop this."

Max looked at him.

Blood bubbled at his lips. Soulfire sputtered in his veins.

He smiled.

"Try me."

Another soldier lunged in – this one enhanced. A Contractor.

Max caught the blade meant for his throat with his bare hand.

His palm split open. Blood splashed across the pod.

He screamed and swung wild. The Soulfire in his fist burst – an uncontrolled detonation.

The Contractor flew back, still burning, armour smoking.

Max turned to shield Liz with his body just as a net cannon fired from one of the Chinese APCs. The reinforced polymer wrapped around the pod. Hooks locked. Lines went taut.

The containment rig behind the soldiers revved to life.

They were lifting her.

"NO!"

Max threw himself against the netting.

Reverb's second shot caught him in the leg.

He fell.

Hard.

The pod rose into the air – hauled by steel arms and black cables, hoisted like cargo instead of a person.

Liz didn't move.

Max clawed at the dirt, dragging himself forward by his elbows.

Chloe screamed his name. Victor surged forward but was pinned by two soldiers. Dan was unconscious. Alyssa was sobbing into her hands.

The sky above roared with engines.

The extraction aircraft descended – Chinese insignia marked with shielding runes and anti-soulfield plating.

Max reached out one last time—

His fingers grazed the underside of the pod. Just barely.

"Come back," he whispered.

But she was already gone.

Then the bullets came.

There was no warning. No countdown. No mercy.

A shout in Mandarin—"Open fire!"—and then the world erupted.

Muzzle flashes from a dozen rifles lit the clearing. The Chinese soldiers unleashed a coordinated barrage – not to kill everyone, just to eliminate him.

Max tried to stand. Tried to shield himself. Tried to burn—

But he was already too slow.

Rounds punched into his torso, his thigh, his ribs. A burst caught his shoulder and spun him sideways. Another slammed into his back. He hit the ground with a wet, choking grunt.

Blood pooled beneath him, black against the ash.

His fingers twitched – once.

Then stilled.

The pod disappeared into the sky.

And Max lay there in the dirt, bleeding out.

Eyes open.

Breath shallow.

Soulfire flickering like the last embers of a dying flame.

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