District 9 — Subway Maintenance Cavern
Renji didn't hesitate. There was no "villain monologue" moment for him.
The second Dr. Aris spoke his old subject name, Renji raised his rifle and pulled the trigger.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK.
Three shots. Aimed perfectly at her head.
Kazuki flinched at the noise, but Dr. Aris didn't even blink.
The bullets stopped.
They froze in mid-air, three inches from her forehead, spinning angrily against an invisible wall. The air around her rippled like heat haze.
"Still impatient, Subject Zero," Aris sighed, sounding disappointed. "We spent years training that out of you."
She flicked her wrist.
The three bullets shot backward, returning to Renji twice as fast.
Renji dove to the left, tackling Aeva out of the way as the bullets sparked against the concrete wall behind them, digging deep craters.
"Gravity manipulation?" Kazuki stammered. "Like... like a Jedi?"
"Vector Control," Renji spat, scrambling to his feet. "She controls magnitude and direction. Bullets are useless. You have to hit her with something she can't calculate."
Dr. Aris floated lower, hovering over the rusted train tracks. The purple device in her hand—the Epoch Beacon—began to hum louder, syncing with the tear in reality behind her.
"I'm not here for a reunion, Renji," she said, tapping commands into the device. "I'm here to stabilize the bridge. The Helix is preparing for the Arrival."
"You're dead!" Renji yelled. "I watched you die in the Delta Timeline! The facility collapsed on you!"
Aris smiled. It was cold and clinical.
"That was Dr. Aris from your past, Renji. But I am not that woman. I am from a future you haven't ruined yet. Time is not a straight line, remember? It's a messy, tangled knot."
She looked at Kazuki. Her eyes scanned the glowing Velocity Core.
"And this... the new vessel. Younger. Faster. But so raw."
She raised a hand toward Kazuki.
"Let's see the data."
Kazuki felt the air around him turn heavy.
Suddenly, he was yanked off his feet. An invisible hand wrapped around his throat and lifted him ten feet into the air.
The suit screamed warnings.
[ALERT: EXTERNAL PRESSURE DETECTED. ARMOR INTEGRITY AT 80%.]
"Hey! Let me go!" Kazuki kicked, but there was nothing to kick. He was floating helpless.
"Fascinating," Aris murmured, tilting her head. She squeezed her hand.
Kazuki gasped. The invisible grip tightened. His ribs creaked. The suit hardened to protect him, but the pressure was immense.
"Drop him!" Aeva shouted.
She unclipped a grenade from her belt and threw it—not at Aris, but at the ceiling above her.
BOOM.
Tons of concrete and rebar rained down on the scientist.
Aris frowned, annoyed. She looked up and raised her other hand. The falling debris stopped instantly, forming a floating shield of rocks above her head.
But the distraction worked. Her grip on Kazuki loosened.
"Renji! Now!" Aeva screamed.
Renji was already moving.
He didn't run at her. He ran at the train.
Renji slammed his shoulder into an abandoned subway car sitting on the tracks.
"GRAAAH!"
Using every ounce of his enhanced strength, he shoved the multi-ton metal carriage. It screeched against the rails, rolling forward, gathering speed.
Aris looked down. The train was barreling toward her.
"Crude," she scoffed.
She reached out to stop the train with her mind.
But Renji smiled.
"Kazuki! Kick it!"
Kazuki, falling from the air, realized the plan. He didn't need to hit Aris. He needed to be the engine.
[VELOCITY CORE: MAX OUTPUT.]
Kazuki landed on the back of the moving train. He planted his feet against the metal door and pushed.
He accelerated.
The train went from 30 mph to 300 mph in a heartbeat.
The sound was deafening—metal screaming against metal, sparks flying like fireworks.
Dr. Aris's eyes widened. She could calculate the force of a rolling train. She couldn't calculate a train being pushed by a Speedster.
The math was wrong. The force was too high.
"Impossib—"
SLAM.
The train hit her forcefield.
The impact created a shockwave that blew the windows out of the subway car.
Aris was launched backward like a ragdoll. She smashed through the purple energy tear, disappearing into the void.
The device she was holding clattered to the floor, smoking.
The train derailed, screeching to a halt sideways, blocking the tunnel.
Kazuki collapsed on top of the train, gasping for air. "Did... did we get her?"
Renji climbed up the side of the wreck. He looked at the fading purple rift where Aris had vanished.
"No," Renji said grimly. "She retreated. She got what she came for."
He jumped down and picked up the smoking device she had dropped. He inspected it, his face pale.
"What is it?" Aeva asked, joining them.
"It's a coordinate lock," Renji whispered. "She wasn't trying to open a door. She was marking a landing zone."
He looked at Kazuki, real fear in his eyes for the first time.
"They aren't just sending soldiers anymore, kid. The Crimson Helix is preparing to bring their Headquarters here. To this time."
Kazuki sat up, rubbing his bruised neck. "So... we stopped the invasion?"
"We bought ourselves maybe 48 hours," Renji said. He crushed the device in his hand. "We need to move. Now. The war just started."
[To Be Continued…]
Scene Options for Chapter 7:
The Interrogation: Kazuki finally demands the truth about why Aris called Renji "Subject Zero." (Lore heavy).
The Upgrade: They go back to the base to repair the suit and Kazuki gets his first "Weapon/Gadget."
The School Life: We cut to the next morning. Kazuki has to go to school and pretend he didn't just fight a telekinetic witch. (Double Life tension).