By day two, the government had set up a full perimeter around the city. A new agency—Emergent Event Authority (E.E.A.)—was born overnight.
Drones scouted rooftops. Sensors were posted at intersections. Curfew warnings blared through mobile alerts.
Confidence met Anthony near an abandoned train station. She wore a hoodie, bag strapped tight, shoes muddy.
"You okay?" he asked.
"I've been ducking checkpoints. They scan for anomalies. I've seen people dragged into black vans."
"How'd you avoid it all?"
"Old-school tech. Burner SIMs. Back routes. I followed signal shadows to mask myself. I learned from someone who works in telecom."
She handed him a small card. "They're calling us Variants now. There's a tier system."
Anthony read the back:
Tier F — Dormant
Tier E to B — Stabilizing
Tier A to S — Active Threat
Tier SS to SSS — National Threat
Anthony's breath caught.
"What's yours?" she asked.
He didn't answer. Because he didn't register on the scale at all.
And whatever stirred inside him wasn't just power—it was something deeper.
Something watching.
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