The alarm ripped through Quantico Base.
Sirens wailed across the compound.
"BEEP—BEEP—BEEP—"
Everywhere, soldiers froze.
Some were on patrol. Others had just returned to their barracks. A few were off base in the nearby town.
All of them wore the same stunned expression.
Then reality hit.
"Holy shit."
"Combat alarm!"
"We've got an intruder!"
"Jesus Christ—what's going on?"
Within seconds, the confusion turned into action.
This was Quantico, after all.
A Marine Corps base.
Not to mention the FBI Academy nearby—and Langley just down the road.
Three seconds after the alarm began, the first soldiers were already moving.
Then more.
And more.
Weapons were grabbed. Radios crackled. Boots pounded across concrete.
"Where's the breach?"
"Gamma Laboratory."
"Fuck."
A lieutenant colonel swore under his breath as he pulled on his uniform jacket while rushing toward the door. At the same time, he pulled out his phone and made a call.
The line connected quickly.
"Talk."
A deep voice answered.
"General, the Gamma Laboratory has been breached."
There was silence on the other end.
Inside a government vehicle leaving the Pentagon, Thaddeus Ross stared at the phone in disbelief.
"The Gamma Laboratory?" he said slowly.
"Yes, sir."
Ross frowned.
That lab sat inside Quantico.
A secure Marine Corps facility.
Breaking into it should have been impossible.
"Say that again," Ross said. "What was attacked?"
"The Gamma Laboratory."
Ross closed his eyes briefly.
"Shit."
"What's the situation?"
"The emergency response team is already on site. I'm heading there now."
Ross loosened his tie and slapped the back of the driver's seat.
"Quantico. Now."
The driver didn't hesitate.
The car shot forward, accelerating past two stunned Capitol Police officers as it sped away.
At the base, the emergency response team had already surrounded the barricaded Gamma Laboratory.
Inside the metal enclosure, heavy impacts echoed through the building.
BOOM.
CRASH.
Scientists who had been working inside the facility stumbled out of the entrance, pale and shaking.
Marines immediately grabbed them and dragged them aside.
"What's happening in there?" a squad leader demanded. "How many intruders?"
"I—I don't know!"
Another researcher blurted out the answer.
"One."
The Marines stared at him.
"…One?"
The scientist nodded frantically.
"He's after the Gamma stone!"
The squad exchanged confused looks.
"You're telling me one guy did this?"
The researcher's face was still white with fear.
"He's not human," he said.
"He punched straight through a wall. Bullets couldn't hit him. Anyone who opened fire… died."
A wounded Marine limped out of the building at that moment, supported by two technicians.
He overheard the conversation and spoke up.
"He's telling the truth," the soldier said weakly. "Just one attacker."
The response team leader stepped forward.
"Report."
The injured Marine swallowed.
"One man. That's it. He's after the Gamma stone. Our bullets couldn't track him—he moved too fast. Everyone who fired at him was killed almost instantly."
The commander narrowed his eyes.
"Then why are you still alive?"
The Marine snapped.
"Didn't you hear what I said?! Everyone who fired at him died!"
The truth was harder to admit.
His rifle had jammed when he pulled the trigger.
No bullet had fired.
And because of that—
Lucas Kane had spared him.
Instead of killing him, Lucas shattered the man's leg, leaving him unable to fight.
Everyone else inside the lab hadn't been so lucky.
Once Lucas began killing, restraint became a matter of numbers—not morality.
Even so, he was still holding himself back.
Deep beneath the Gamma Laboratory, Lucas Kane reached the basement.
The first thing he noticed was the excavation pit carved into the floor.
Without hesitation, he jumped down.
THUD.
The pit opened into a narrow underground tunnel.
Rough stone walls.
Mining tools scattered across the ground.
Pickaxes.
Shovels.
Lucas glanced around.
"Primitive," he muttered.
Then he reconsidered.
Maybe intentional.
The military wasn't exactly famous for internal unity. Some projects were kept deliberately quiet—even from other branches.
His gaze shifted to the stone walls.
Yes.
This was it.
The same strange mineral he had seen earlier in Curt Connors laboratory.
Suddenly, something stirred within his Cosmo.
A sharp cry echoed inside his consciousness—
Like the call of a phoenix.
A message followed.
Consume.
Lucas absorbed the meaning instantly.
"Got it," he murmured.
At first, he'd assumed he would have to mine the stones manually.
But the message explained otherwise.
All he needed to do was place his hands on the mineral and ignite his Cosmo.
The Phoenix within his Cosmo would absorb the energy stored inside the rock—refined Gamma radiation condensed into crystal.
Lucas smiled faintly.
"That makes things easier."
He stepped forward, preparing to begin.
Then his eyes flicked upward toward the tunnel entrance above.
Without hesitation, Lucas threw a punch.
The strike never touched the wall—
—but the shockwave hit the tunnel opening.
BOOM.
The passage to the basement collapsed instantly.
Debris crashed down, sealing the entrance.
Dust blasted through the tunnel.
Lucas stood unmoving as the shockwave rolled past him.
The cave-in wasn't meant to trap anyone.
It was simply insurance.
He didn't want interruptions.
Satisfied, Lucas placed both hands against the stone walls.
And ignited his Cosmo.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
Energy erupted through the tunnel as the Cosmo Awakening process began.