THE COMPOUND WAS ORGANIZEDchaos when they arrived.
Teams suited up in the armory, pulling on tactical gear designed to channel rather than suppress their powers.Weapons were being distributed to those who used them.Final briefings happened in three different rooms simultaneously, voices overlapping through open doors.The air buzzed with nervous energy and the particular tension that came before battle.
Rick Charming intercepted them in the main hallway.He took one look at Hannah standing beside Gray, saw the electricity still crackling faintly between them, and grinned.
"About damn time."
"Rick..."Gray started.
"Save it.We've got incoming."Rick's grin vanished, replaced by the hard focus of a man preparing for war.He gestured urgently toward the command center at the end of the hall."Vera had another vision ten minutes ago.More details this time.You need to hear this."
The war room was packed with everyone who mattered.
Yaz Frost stood near the tactical display, ice crystals forming unconsciously in the air around her fingers.West Blaze leaned against the wall beside her, flames dancing across his shoulders in a display that would have seemed threatening if they hadn't all grown used to his lack of control when stressed.Rick and Evie occupied the far corner, their mental link obvious in the way they moved in unison without speaking.Dean Racer kept accidentally vibrating at superspeed, making Keeley Arnold smirk every time she had to put a hand on his arm to slow him down.
Fallyn and Zane stood close enough that their powers merged at the edges, reality bending slightly where they touched.Nick and Sarah Storm had positioned themselves near the window, as if ready to take flight at a moment's notice.Peter Strong cracked his knuckles while Brynn Davis checked her weapons with the ease of long practice.Xavier Smoke kept flickering in and out of visibility, a nervous habit that Ari Cardonne had long since stopped commenting on.Chris Stone and Jem Rocke stood shoulder to shoulder, the floor beneath their feet shaking slightly with suppressed seismic energy.
And at the center of it all, Vera Seer and Erik Prophet.Vera's eyes were unfocused, swimming with that distant look she got when visions pressed against the present.
Everyone went quiet when Gray and Hannah entered.They could all see it, the electricity literally crackling between them, visible even across the room.The bond forming whether they wanted it to or not.
"Tomorrow," Vera said, her voice distant and echoing strangely."Not three days like I saw before.Tomorrow morning.They moved up the timeline."She swayed slightly, and Erik steadied her with a hand on her elbow."Operation Purification begins at dawn."
A holographic map materialized above the conference table, six major cities lighting up in angry red.
"Protogenus leadership will deploy the power-stripping weapons at these locations simultaneously.But that's not the main attack."Vera's voice shook."They have Dioscuri variants.Adults.Fully trained.Military-grade.They're going to stage 'supe attacks' using their own people disguised as rogue variants, then 'save' everyone by deploying the weapons.Make it look like they're the heroes protecting norms from us."
"False flag operations," Rick said flatly."Turn public opinion completely against us right before the Senate vote."
"And if they deploy those weapons in populated areas..."West trailed off, flames flickering higher.
"Every variant in range loses their powers permanently," Gray finished."Including all of us."
The room erupted.Competing voices, competing strategies, everyone talking over everyone else.
Yaz stepped forward, ice crystals forming around her hands."So we hit them first.Preemptive strikes on all six locations.Take out the weapons before deployment."
"We don't know where the staging areas are," Gray countered."Vera's visions show the attacks but not where they're launching from."
"Then we respond when they attack," Keeley suggested, her fingers unconsciously shifting to blades."Fast, hard, overwhelming force."
"That's reactive," Yaz argued."We need to be proactive.We can't just wait for civilians to be endangered."
"We also can't attack blindly based on partial intel," Erik added.
The room filled with arguing.Everyone had an opinion.Everyone was scared.
Pressure built in his chest with the need to take control, to force everyone to listen, to justactinstead of endless debating.
His hands started crackling with electricity.
The lights flickered throughout the compound.
Hannah's hand found his under the table.The touch grounded him, her electricity flowing into his, smoothing the jagged edges of his building fury.Through their incomplete bond, he sensed her calm, her focus.It helped.
"Enough."
Lightning arced across the ceiling in a brilliant display that silenced every voice in the room.Some of them looked afraid.Good.Maybe they should be.
