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"Captain, go get some rest. I'll take the next watch."
The Bureau captain shook his head.
"Not during a sensitive period. Especially not with Mercer inside. Nothing can go wrong with him."
"If something happens on our watch, the loss to the Republic would be catastrophic."
The agent beside him waved it off.
"We learned our lesson from the Holloway situation. This time, the Bureau sent every available elite to guard this site. If something still goes wrong, then honestly—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
Because at that moment, a suit of battle armor erupted from the desert laboratory and launched into the sky like a missile with a pilot.
The agents stared.
Then scrambled.
"How the — how is his research done already? It's been ONE MONTH!"
"The last armor took three months! How is this one faster?"
"NOTIFY HEADQUARTERS IMMEDIATELY! SCRAMBLE INTERCEPTORS!"
Inside the Bureau of Internal Affairs, Director Graves received the report of Ethan's "escape" from the desert laboratory and felt something in his chest that was either a heart palpitation or the urge to strangle a teenager.
He was reaching for his phone to call the military when it rang first.
Ethan's number.
"YOU ABSOLUTE—"
"GET YOUR ASS BACK TO THAT LABORATORY RIGHT NOW!"
The armor, currently at an altitude of twenty thousand meters and climbing, visibly wobbled.
Inside the helmet, Ethan winced. Even with the Super Soldier Serum enhancing every aspect of his physiology, Director Graves at full volume was a force that biology couldn't fully prepare for.
"Director Graves, you're as energetic as ever."
"STOP BEING CLEVER!"
"NOW! RIGHT NOW! IMMEDIATELY! TURN AROUND, OR I WILL PERSONALLY FLY OUT THERE AND DRAG YOU BACK!"
Ethan's voice shifted. The humor dropped away. What replaced it was the tone of a man who'd made a decision and was informing the relevant parties, not asking permission.
"Director Graves, be honest with me. How likely is the Aurelian Republic to release my uncle voluntarily?"
Silence.
"A few years back, the Aurelian Republic's neighbor detained Valorian citizens over a trade dispute. A chip manufacturing disagreement. They held our people for months, and nothing we did through diplomatic channels made a difference."
"That was over semiconductor components. This is over the most advanced military technology on the planet."
"They will not stop until they get what they want. You know this."
Graves was quiet on the other end. Because the kid was right, and they both knew it. The "promise" Graves had made to Ethan when he'd broken the news about Frank had been a stopgap. Something to keep the kid calm while the Bureau scrambled for options that didn't exist.
The Aurelian Republic held all the leverage. Frank Holloway was a hostage in a nation that had already demonstrated it was willing to violate sovereign airspace and fire missiles at civilians. Diplomatic protests wouldn't free him. Economic pressure would take years. And every day that passed was a day the Aurelian Republic's intelligence services had to interrogate Frank for information about Ethan's routines, habits, and vulnerabilities.
"Even so, you are NOT going!"
"Listen to me, Ethan. I WILL find a way to bring your uncle home."
"Director Graves, I believe you mean that. And I know that from your position, direct action isn't an option."
"But from where I'm standing, that man raised me for thirteen years. He's the only father I've ever known."
"If I didn't have the capability, I'd accept it. I'd let the system work. But I have the capability, and I'm choosing to use it."
He paused.
"I also know what you're worried about. The technology."
"I've already compiled complete documentation for both the fusion reactor and the battle armor. Schematics, theoretical frameworks, manufacturing specifications. Everything."
"If I don't return, the files will be automatically transmitted to your secure email."
"And Director Graves — if the worst happens and they manage to detain me, I want you to know something."
"I will never contribute a single piece of knowledge to the Aurelian Republic. Not under any circumstances. Not under any pressure."
The line went quiet.
Graves, sitting in his office with his phone pressed to his ear, felt something he hadn't felt since the day the missile had hit Mark One.
Helplessness.
"Kid. You..."
"Director Graves, don't worry. I've made preparations you don't know about."
"This past month, I wasn't just building a new suit of armor."
"The work I did in that biochemical laboratory? That's the real weapon."
Graves didn't quite believe it. He thought the kid was trying to comfort him. In his assessment, once Ethan crossed into Aurelian airspace, he was walking into a cage. A cage made of an entire nation's military, with his uncle as the bait, and no amount of technology could overcome the combined resources of a superpower.
After the call ended, Chancellor Thayer, who'd been listening from across the room, spoke.
"He's gone?"
Graves nodded. The motion looked like it cost him something.
"We have lost a great talent."
The Chancellor looked out the window. The early morning light caught the lines on his face, and for the first time, he looked his age.
Ryan Calloway was asleep.
He'd been working late at his new position — lead reporter for a prime-time program at the Republic's main television network. The exclusive footage Ethan had given him had landed him the job within a week of the verification meeting. The blacklist had evaporated the moment the networks realized Ryan controlled content they couldn't get anywhere else.
Everything was going well. The only thing that nagged at him was the debt. To Ethan, giving Ryan that footage had been a casual gesture. To Ryan, it had been a second life. And he hadn't found a way to repay it.
His phone rang.
Ryan glanced at the screen through bleary eyes, saw the name, and was instantly awake.
"Hey, Ryan. You up?"
"I am now. Why are you calling at this hour?"
Ethan didn't waste time.
"I need you to broadcast the Signal Bee's live feed. Right now. Nationally."
Ryan's journalist instincts fired before his conscious mind could catch up. Something was wrong. Ethan's voice was different. Not scared. Not panicked. The specific, controlled calm of a person who was doing something dangerous and had already accepted the consequences.
"What happened?"
"I'll explain everything when I'm back. For now, just do what I'm asking."
The urgency in the tone left no room for argument. Ryan was out of bed and moving before the sentence finished.
"Give me three minutes."
It took him two.
Ryan connected to the Signal Bee's feed, called every contact he had at the network, pulled every favor he'd accumulated in six weeks of employment, and pushed the broadcast live on the Republic's primary channel.
The footage appeared on screens across the nation.
A suit of battle armor, flying at high altitude, moving fast. But this wasn't the Mark One. The design was different. Sleeker. Heavier-looking. The color scheme was darker, the lines more aggressive. It looked less like a prototype and more like a weapon that had been designed with a specific purpose in mind.
The comment sections ignited immediately.
"Is that the armor from the verification meeting? The design is completely different!"
"This one looks way more serious. Heavier. More armored. The first one looked like a sports car. This one looks like a tank."
"That's Professor Mercer inside, right? Where is he GOING?"
"Same question!"
Inside the armor, Ethan looked at the horizon.
Below him, the ocean stretched in every direction. Ahead, barely visible at the edge of perception, a coastline was emerging from the haze.
The Aurelian Republic.
The armor's sensors had already detected them. Several radar contacts, rising from positions along the coast, climbing to intercept altitude. Fighter jets. The Aurelian Republic's early warning systems had picked up his approach the moment he'd entered their detection range, and they'd scrambled a response.
They were monitoring, not attacking. Not yet. They didn't know what he was or what he intended. But they would figure it out very quickly.
Ethan looked at the approaching coastline and felt the cold settle into his chest.
This wasn't a verification meeting. This wasn't a demonstration. This wasn't a test where the worst outcome was embarrassment.
This was one person, in a suit of armor, flying into the territory of the most powerful military on the planet, to take back the man who raised him.
The Super Soldier Serum coursed through enhanced veins. The new armor hummed around him, tighter and more responsive than Mark One had ever been. The reactor in his chest burned steady and bright.
Behind the faceplate, Ethan's eyes found the coastline.
"The Aurelian Republic."
"Our confrontation begins now."