CHAPTER 23
Eyes Behind the Curtain
General Klipsch did not sit.
He stood behind his desk, both palms pressed flat against the polished wood, jaw tight, eyes colder than usual.
Dan remained at attention.
Silence stretched.
"You've caused a global incident," Klipsch finally said.
"With respect, sir, I neutralized a hostile threat."
"That hostile threat," Klipsch snapped, "was recorded from seventeen civilian angles and three satellite feeds."
Dan's eyes narrowed slightly.
Satellite?
Klipsch tossed a remote onto the desk. A screen behind him flickered to life.
Footage.
Dan lifting the humanoid.
The creature burning — though the flames were invisible.
The screams.
Freeze frame.
Zoom.
"You see that?" Klipsch asked.
Dan kept his face neutral.
"I see a soldier completing his mission."
"I see something that doesn't exist in any military manual."
Another clip played.
Foreign news anchors.
Words like: "Demonic entity." "Biological weapon." "Experimental super soldier." "End of days."
Dan exhaled quietly.
"So what's the problem, sir?"
Klipsch leaned forward.
"The United Nations has requested your presence."
Dan blinked.
"That's not happening."
Klipsch's eyes sharpened.
"You don't get to decide that."
A pause.
"Three countries have officially requested access to you for 'joint study and strategic consultation.'"
Dan felt something cold crawl down his spine.
Study?
"I'm a soldier. Not a lab rat."
"No," Klipsch said darkly. "You're leverage."
Silence again.
Then—
A knock at the door.
A communications officer rushed in, pale.
"Sir. We have movement."
Klipsch didn't look away from Dan.
"What kind of movement?"
"Unknown aircraft detected crossing Mediterranean airspace. No transponder. Military signature scrambled."
Dan's jaw tightened.
"Destination?"
The officer swallowed.
"Projected path suggests… southern France."
The room went still.
Across the Atlantic.
In a secure underground facility.
A different screen displayed the same footage of Dan fighting.
Men in suits sat in silence.
One of them spoke.
"So France claims this is natural?"
Another replied calmly.
"They're lying."
A third leaned forward.
"Deploy the retrieval unit."
Back in France.
Klipsch grabbed his cap.
"All personnel on defensive readiness."
He looked at Dan.
"You're not leaving this base."
Dan didn't argue.
But inside, the system flickered.
Threat probability escalating.
External hostile intent detected.
Recommend concealment of enhanced capabilities.
Dan's eyes hardened.
So it begins.
Outside, alarms began to blare.
Soldiers moved.
Engines roared.
Reeve burst into the hallway.
"Dan! You hearing this?"
"Yeah."
"You think it's them? The humanoids?"
Dan shook his head slowly.
"No."
"Then who?"
Dan's gaze drifted toward the distant sky beyond the corridor window.
"Humans."
Radar screens lit up.
Multiple signatures now.
Fast.
Organized.
Too precise to be random.
Klipsch barked orders.
"Scramble jets!"
"But sir— they're flying low altitude stealth—"
A distant rumble cut him off.
Not an explosion.
A sonic disturbance.
Something had breached the outer perimeter.
Soldiers raised rifles.
Tanks repositioned.
Then—
The lights flickered.
Just once.
Dan felt it immediately.
That same unnatural presence from Mist Island.
But… different.
Colder.
Sharper.
The system pulsed.
Secondary anomaly detected.
Not humanoid.
Classification unknown.
Warning: conceal strength.
Dan clenched his fists.
This wasn't just politics.
This wasn't just surveillance.
This was coordinated.
A distraction.
The humanoids had shaken the world.
And now someone was taking advantage.
A soldier ran past yelling:
"Perimeter team down!"
Gunfire erupted in the distance.
Not chaotic.
Controlled.
Professional.
Reeve looked at Dan.
"Orders?"
Dan inhaled slowly.
"I follow command."
But inside, doubt stirred.
If I show too much now…
The world won't just fear the humanoids.
They'll fear me.
Klipsch's voice echoed through the base speakers.
"All units defensive formation! Unknown hostiles breaching west sector!"
Dan moved.
Not at full speed.
Not yet.
He stepped into the open yard as smoke rose near the perimeter fence.
Through the haze, shadows moved.
Not humanoid shapes.
Human silhouettes.
Black tactical armor.
Unmarked.
Silent.
One of them looked directly at Dan.
Even through the visor…
Dan felt it.
Recognition.
They weren't surprised to see him.
They came for him.
The system pulsed again.
Probability assessment:
Objective of hostile unit — Host Capture: 81%.
Dan's heart slowed.
So that's it.
Not assassination.
Extraction.
Behind him, soldiers took positions.
Gunfire cracked.
The black-armored unit advanced without panic.
Disciplined.
Calculated.
And in the distant sky—
Something else descended.
Too large to be a drone.
Too controlled to be debris.
Klipsch stepped beside Dan.
"Tell me you've got something you're not showing."
Dan didn't answer.
Because for the first time—
He wasn't sure if hiding his strength would protect the world…
Or doom it.
The descending object broke through cloud cover.
Metal.
Angular.
Silent.
Reeve whispered behind him:
"What the hell is that?"
Dan's eyes narrowed.
And the system spoke one final line.
Global escalation event initiated.
Cut.