---
Chapter 21 - The Truth Beneath the Lies
Kael-X stood atop the ruined skyscraper, his long silver hair swaying in the wind, still covering his eyes. Below him, the city lay in chaos—flames rising from destroyed streets, abandoned cars scattered like toys, and the echoes of sirens fading as the last remnants of human civilization fled in terror.
He had won. Again.
But something felt… wrong.
Kael-X flexed his fingers, feeling the residual energy of Compound-X still pulsing in his veins. It was a rush, an unstoppable force that made him faster than light and stronger than any weapon. But now that the battle was over, he realized something—he was still standing, but the world around him had become eerily silent.
Then he noticed it.
A drone, hovering a few meters away, its red blinking light fixed on him.
Not just one—there were dozens.
And above them, a news helicopter, its cameras locked onto him, broadcasting his image across the entire world.
Kael-X exhaled sharply.
"They're watching," he muttered.
He had been so focused on escaping his captors, on proving his power, that he hadn't considered this—his existence was no longer a secret. The entire planet now knew about him. Every government, every military, every scientist who had ever dreamed of creating the ultimate weapon… they all had their eyes on him now.
But then, something unexpected happened.
The drone in front of him spoke.
A deep, synthetic voice crackled through its speakers.
> "Kael-X, your presence has been detected. You are not the first of your kind. We need to talk."
Kael-X's eyes widened behind his curtain of hair.
Not the first?
For the first time since his escape, an unfamiliar sensation crept into his chest.
Not rage. Not exhilaration.
Doubt.
Kael-X's fingers twitched. The voice from the drone had been calm, controlled—too controlled. He could hear the precise modulation in its tone, the lack of emotion. This wasn't just any communication. It was engineered speech.
He tensed, preparing to move, but something told him to listen first.
"You are not the first of your kind."
The words echoed in his head.
That didn't make sense. He knew what he was. The only one. The most powerful result of Compound-X. There couldn't be others.
His body flickered, a streak of movement that made the drone's camera glitch. In less than a second, he was standing inches away from it, his hand gripping its metallic frame.
"Who are you?" Kael-X demanded, his voice low.
Static crackled through the speaker before the voice returned.
> "We are watching. And we are waiting."
We.
Kael-X clenched his jaw.
"Where?" he pressed.
The drone hummed as if processing his question.
> "Deep beneath the ruins of the old world. Where the first subjects were buried. Where the truth remains hidden."
Kael-X's grip tightened, the metal crunching under his fingers. The old world. That could mean anything. But he knew one thing for certain—whoever was speaking to him knew about Compound-X. And if there were others… if there were more like him…
Before he could respond, a loud bang echoed in the distance.
Kael-X's head snapped up.
The helicopter—
It was falling.
A missile had struck its tail rotor, sending it into a violent spin. The pilots inside scrambled, their screams barely audible over the roaring wind.
Kael-X's instincts kicked in. His body blurred forward—faster than sound—reaching the aircraft just as it dropped past the building's edge.
His arms snapped out. Caught.
But something was wrong.
The weight.
It was heavier than expected.
Kael-X's feet scraped against the crumbling rooftop, his muscles straining as he kept the aircraft from plunging into the fiery wreckage below. He glanced up—inside the cockpit, the pilots were unconscious.
And then—
A red light blinked inside.
A countdown.
A bomb.
Kael-X's eyes widened.
The attack wasn't meant to kill the pilots. It was meant to kill him.
With no time to think, he threw the helicopter with inhuman force. The burning wreck shot through the air, landing miles away in an empty district before it exploded in a thunderous fireball.
Kael-X barely had time to register what had happened before—
BANG!
A sniper bullet slammed into his forehead.
Or at least, it should have.
Instead, time slowed, the bullet appearing frozen mid-air in front of him. Kael-X tilted his head slightly, watching the projectile hover as if caught in molasses.
A normal bullet.
Too slow.
With a flick of his fingers, he redirected it, sending it spiraling into the ground below.
His eyes narrowed beneath his silver hair.
They were testing him.
Someone knew his speed.
Someone calculated his reactions.
And that meant—
A second bullet.
This one wasn't normal.
It moved faster.
Almost as fast as him.
Kael-X barely had time to shift his head before the bullet grazed his cheek, cutting through his skin in a thin, clean line. His enhanced body healed almost instantly, but it confirmed one thing.
They had upgraded.
He looked toward the distance, past the ruined buildings, past the smoke and wreckage, to the glowing silhouette standing on a rooftop miles away.
A figure.
Watching him.
Waiting.
Kael-X's pulse quickened.
"Who the hell are you?"
The sniper lowered their rifle.
And disappeared.
To be continued...
---