Lowwater felt different in the days after Cross's death. Streets that once hummed with tension now breathed easier, and the Lattice pulsed with a steady rhythm beneath Evan's feet. He stood on a rooftop as dawn crept over the city. The air was cold and still, yet he could feel thousands of quiet details at once—footsteps echoing across alleys, a bus engine coughing near Old Pier, arguments drifting from apartment windows, a kid sprinting too fast down a side street. The city wasn't just alive. It was talking to him.
A scream cut through the morning haze, sharp and sudden. Evan didn't think. He stepped, letting his energy surge, and the world folded for an instant as Ablation Drive activated.
[SYSTEM NOTICE: ABLATION DRIVE — ACTIVE]
Evan appeared in a narrow alley two streets away. Three men cornered a teenager, the largest one waving a knife. The kid's backpack lay torn on the ground with books scattered everywhere. Evan didn't bother speaking. He flickered once, disappearing from their sight, and reappeared behind one of them. Before any of them could process it, he moved again, faster than a blink. When time caught up, the men were pinned helplessly in separate corners of the alley—shoelaces tied together, jackets caught on dumpsters, weapons piled neatly on the ground.
"Rethink your choices," Evan said, calm and steady. The men glared but couldn't move without falling over.
He turned to the teenager. "You okay?"
The kid nodded, wide-eyed. "You're… you're different. Faster."
"Just doing what I can." Evan helped him collect his things before sending him home. As the kid left, Evan felt another tug through the Lattice—a vibration cutting straight through the rails. Heat. Panic. Flames.
Without hesitation, he moved again.
[AUTO-ACCELERATION — ACTIVE]
A warehouse fire raged in the industrial district, flames roaring out of shattered windows. Fire crews were still setting up hoses, shouting over each other. Evan heard someone trapped on an upper floor, their coughing echoing through the inferno. He sprinted straight into the building. The heat washed over him harmlessly; the flames parted as he passed.
[HEAT TOLERANCE — MAXIMUM]
A support beam collapsed above him. Evan caught it with one hand and tossed it aside with a shower of sparks. He moved through smoke and fire like wind slipping through cracks. He found the trapped worker under a broken staircase. "Arm around me," Evan said. "We're out."
He triggered Ablation Drive again.
[SYSTEM: DISTANCE REMOVAL — SUCCESS]
They reappeared outside in front of stunned firefighters. The captain moved toward him, shouting something about safety, but Evan barely heard. The building behind him was already losing its flames; the fire had been starved of oxygen by every window and vent he opened during his sprint.
Someone whispered, "He's stronger than before."
Another replied, "He's becoming the city."
Evan didn't respond. The Lattice tugged at him again—multiple signals this time. A stolen car speeding down Brighton Avenue. A fainting passenger on a bus. A man collapsing in a crosswalk. A trapped dog. An elderly woman struggling at a busy intersection.
He moved without hesitation.
[Ablation Drive — MULTIPATH MODE][COGNITION BOOST — ACTIVE]
He became a blur across Lowwater. He stopped the stolen car by lifting the rear wheels off the road and turning it sideways. He flickered inside the bus, catching the fainting passenger before they hit the floor. He placed the heatstroke victim on a cool bench and called emergency services. He snapped a garage lock to free the trapped dog. He gently carried the elderly woman across the street and set her down before she even realized what happened.
None of it tired him. None of it slowed him.
[STAMINA LIMIT — REMOVED]
Hours passed. Evan didn't stop. For the first time in a long while, he wasn't fighting gods, corrupted systems, or impossible threats. He was simply helping people—one by one, street by street, heartbeat by heartbeat.
Finally, Aelira's voice reached him over comms. "Evan… you've been running nonstop. You need to breathe."
"I'm fine," he said.
"That's what worries me," she murmured.
He stood on another rooftop, looking out over the city. Lowwater's lights shimmered beneath him, pulsing softly in the rhythm of a living network. Cairn patched in. "Evan, I've got to ask… what's the goal here?"
Evan didn't answer right away. He watched the sunrise stretch over the skyline.
"My goal?" he said finally. "If the city needs me, I'll run."
He stepped forward—and in the next instant, he was gone, a streak of violet sweeping across Lowwater like a promise.