Two Weeks Later
District 9 — The Rooftop Overlooking the Bay
The rain had returned to Neo-Tokyo. It wasn't the violent storm of the invasion; it was a soft, steady drizzle that washed the soot from the buildings.
Kazuki stood at the edge of the roof, the same spot where Renji had given him the Limiter Glasses. He wasn't wearing the suit. He was wearing a black hoodie, jeans, and sneakers. He looked normal.
Except for the way he stood. Still. Alert. Like a soldier.
Aeva walked up behind him, holding a cheap umbrella. She looked tired, dark circles under her eyes, but she had cleaned up.
"It's done," she said softly. "I wiped the digital footprint. As far as the government knows, 'Renji' never existed. He was just a glitch in the data."
Kazuki nodded. He held a lit cigarette in his hand. He didn't smoke—he hated the smell—but Renji used to smoke them on this roof.
He placed the cigarette on the railing, watching the smoke curl up into the rain. An offering.
"He saved the world," Kazuki whispered. "And nobody will ever know."
"We know," Aeva said, stepping up beside him. "And that has to be enough."
Kazuki looked out at the bay. The wreckage of the fortress had been salvaged by the military, but the water was still dark.
"He told me not to be him," Kazuki said. "But he was the bravest man I ever met. If I become half the man he was... I'll be okay."
Aeva smiled sadly. "He wasn't brave because he wasn't scared, Kazuki. He was brave because he knew exactly how it ended, and he ran the race anyway."
The New Safe House — An Abandoned Auto-Repair Shop
They walked back to their new temporary base—a garage on the outskirts of the city.
In the center of the room, dismantled on a workbench, was the Velocity Suit.
It was battered. The silver armor was scorched black. The core was cracked. It had survived a war, but it was finished.
Aeva sat at a computer, the silver data chip Renji had given Kazuki plugged into the drive.
"I've finally decrypted the 'Mark II' files," Aeva said, her eyes widening as she scrolled through the schematics.
"Is it a weapon?" Kazuki asked, leaning over her shoulder.
"No," Aeva shook her head. "It's a cure."
She pointed to the screen.
"Renji knew the Mark I suit was flawed. It leaked radiation. That's what killed him in the future. So he spent years designing this."
On the screen was a blueprint for a new suit. It wasn't bulky armor like the Mark I. It was sleek, segmented, and aerodynamic. It looked like a second skin made of woven liquid metal.
[PROJECT DESIGNATION: VELOCITY SUIT MK-II "ECHO"]
"It solves the heat dispersion problem," Aeva explained. "It syncs with your bio-rhythm perfectly. It won't burn you out. It will let you run forever."
Kazuki stared at the blueprint. A gift from a ghost. A way to survive the destiny that killed his future self.
"Can we build it?"
Aeva looked at the pile of scrap metal and the cracked Core.
"It will take time. We need materials. We need money. And we need to lay low."
"We have time," Kazuki said, his voice firm.
He picked up the cracked blue Core from the table. It hummed against his palm, faint but steady.
"The Helix is gone. Kaelen is gone."
Aeva hesitated. She typed a command into the computer. A map of the world popped up.
"Kazuki... about that."
She zoomed in on a seismic anomaly in the South Pacific Ocean.
"When the Fortress crashed... something sent a signal out. Deep space. It wasn't a distress beacon."
"What was it?"
"It was a receipt," Aeva said grimly. "Confirming delivery of the data."
Kazuki's grip on the Core tightened.
"So they know where we are. The real Helix."
"They know," Aeva nodded. "And they're coming. Maybe not today. Maybe not this year. But they're coming."
Kazuki walked to the garage door. He hit the button, and the metal door rolled up, revealing the neon lights of the city he had sworn to protect.
He put his glasses on.
He wasn't the scared kid who ran from the warehouse anymore.
He was the Speedster.
"Let them come," Kazuki said.
He looked back at Aeva.
"We'll be ready."
Somewhere in the Void
Darkness. Absolute, cold darkness.
Floating in the silence of the space between dimensions.
A piece of debris drifted by—the shattered golden throne of the Helix Fortress.
And clinging to it... was a hand.
A pale hand with long, elegant fingers.
Kaelen Rhyne pulled himself onto the drifting debris.
He was alive. Barely.
His robes were torn. His skin was burned from the kinetic explosion. One of his eyes was blinded white.
He floated in the void, coughing up purple blood.
He looked at the distant, tiny light of the timeline he had just fallen from.
"You think you won..." Kaelen rasped, his voice a broken wheeze.
A shadow fell over him.
A massive shape emerged from the darkness of the void. It was colossal—a living ship made of bone and starlight.
The Malvorn Flagship.
A voice spoke from the ship. It didn't use sound; it used telepathy that felt like ice picks in the brain.
"YOU FAILED, KAELEN."
Kaelen shivered, bowing his head on the floating debris.
"I found the Key, Lord Malvorn. The boy has it. The Anchor is destroyed... but the Key remains."
The massive ship turned slowly, aiming its course toward Earth.
"THEN WE SHALL RETRIEVE IT. PREPARE THE HUNTERS."
Kaelen looked back at Earth and smiled a bloodied, broken smile.
"Run, little rabbit," he whispered to the distant star. "Run while you can."