The night air in Riverside was thick with smoke,sirens , and the faint crackle of dying neon signs.
Zeke sat cross legged on the curb, still wrapped in that itchy emergency blanket as if it were the only thing keeping him from unraveling completely.
Agent Cadmen stood a few feet away, speaking quietly to the sheriff, who looked both impressed and terrified of him.
Maya perched on an overturned trash can like it was a throne, scrolling on her phone. Every few seconds, she'd mutter something like "hashtag lightning sneeze now has 300,000 views," Which made Zeke want to crawl under the asphalt.
When Cadmen finally walked back over, his boots heavy against the cracked pavement, he didn't bother softening his tone.
" You need to come with me."
Zeke pulled the blankets tighter.
" Uh, sorry - stranger danger. My mom told me not to get into cars with ominous men in trench coats."
Maya grinned ." smart kid. I'll allow it."
Cadmen signed, the kind of sigh that suggested the he had zero patience for teenagers, social media, or comedy in general.
" this isn't optional. what you saw tonight was only the beginning. NeoGeneX won't stop. You're both already on their radar."
" Wait...both?" Maya asked. " Hold up. why me? I didn't even sneeze lightning. All I did was keep him from short circuiting himself."
"Exactly," Cadmen said "You stabilize him. That makes you useful."
Zeke winced. " Wow, thanks. nothing makes a girl feels special like being classified as useful by a dude who looks like he hasn't smiled since the cold war ."
The warehouse
15 minutes later ,they were inside a repurposed auto garage on the edge of town. Cadmen's SUV looked wildly out of place parked between rusted Chevys and oils stained toolboxes.
He led them through a sliding metal door and down the stairwell into a surprisingly sleek underground bunker. Banks of monitor flickered with live feeds - traffic cams, satellite images, encrypted files scrolling too fast for Zeke to process.
"Welcome to my office," Cadmen said flatly. "Not much of a decorator."
"Yeah, I noticed," Maya said ,eyeing the barren grey walls. " It's giving...serial killer chic."
Cadmen ignored her. He tapped a monitor, and a pause video feed filled the screen: Zara, from the diner fight, frozen mid- strike, her eyes glowing white-hot.
Zeke's throat went dry.
"That's her."
"Designation: Subject X," Cadmen said.
"NeoGeneX engineered her from the ground up. Enhanced physiology, adaptive combat reflexes, regenerative tissue. A weapon in human skin."
Zeke stared. "She didn't fight like a weapon. She fought like ... like someone who wanted to tell me apart."
Cadmen's jaw tightened. " She wasn't supposed to be active yet. Which means NeoGeneX is rushing their time table."
Cadmen turned, fixing Zeke with a stare sharp enough to cut steel.
"They will come for you because you're different. Stronger, faster - an outlier . You're what they call Patient Zero ."
Zeke's stomach flipped. " Wait, you are I'm... ground zero for all this? Like, the test run?"
Cadmen didn't answer right away. He pressed a button, and another video filled the screen: grainy lab footage, a younger Zeke strapped to a hospital bed, wires taped to his chest, a heart monitor screaming . His body jerked as blue white sparks arced from his finger tips.
Zeke stumbled back. "No. No, that ... that can't be me. I don't remember that!"
Cadmen's voice was calm, but heavy. "Because they didn't want you to. NeoGeneX manipulates memory. It's easier to control subjects who don't know what they are."
Maya's face had gone pale. She stepped protectively closer to Zeke.
" You are telling me my best friend was... what? cooked up in the lab and left to bake like a microwave burrito?"
Zeke's mind was spinning. The blanket slipped off his shoulders, forgotten.
Patient zero. Test subject. Lab footage. None of its fit with the goofy, awkward kid who still cried at Pixar movies.
Electricity flickered in the lights overhead. Zeke's hands buzzed, his powers rising with his panic. He gritted his teeth, trying to control it.
"I ...am... not... some science experiment!" he shouted, the room shaking as a lamp exploded.
Maya grabbed his wrist, grounding him, the way she had before. Her touch steadied him, pulling the static out of his spiral.
"Hey. You are not an experiment, okay? you are you. The same Zeke who eats hot pockets for breakfast and once lost a fight to a Roomba."
Zeke blinked at her, confused ." ...that thing had knives taped to it."
" still counts."
The tension cracked just enough for him to laugh, the sparks dimming from his fingertips.
Cadmen watched silently, unreadable. Finally, he said: "Control is your weapon now. If you can't master it, you're already dead."
Cadmen pulled a small case from under the console and slid it across the table. Inside was a sleek wristband, matte black, with faints glowing circuits etched along its surface.
"This will help regulate the electrical surges," Cadmen explained. "Not perfect. But enough to keep you from frying yourself... or anyone around you."
Zeke hesitated, staring at the device like it might bite him. "So what, you just... wants me to suit up and fight their mutants hit squad? I am barely keeping myself together as it is."
" You don't have a choice."Cadmen said.
His voice softened a fraction, but his eyes stayed hard. "They won't stop. They'll take everything you love and burn it to ash if it means getting to you. The question isn't if you'll fight, Carter .It's when."
The silence stretched. Finally, Zeke slipped the band onto his wrist. The circuits flared blue, syncing with his pulse . For the first time since this nightmare began, the storm inside him quieted.
"...okay," he whispered . "Then we fight."
Maya crossed her arms, smirking ." Guess I'm drafted too. Somebody has to stop him from sneezing lightning at Starbucks."
Cadmen allowed himself the faintest, smallest smirk.
"You two might just stand a chance."
Meanwhile, back at NeoGeneX headquarters, Dr Evelyn Cross watched the feed, hands steepled under her chin. Zara stood behind her, silent, eyes glowing faintly as if waiting for orders .
Cross's voice was smooth as silk.
"Cadmen found his stray dog. Good. Now we will see if he can keep the leash tight."
Her lips curved into a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Release Harbinger."