They gathered in silence beneath the old corporate complex, their breath soft echoes in the stale air. The Vanguard had ventured deeper than ever before, following Elena's painstakingly decrypted files to one of Sovereign's central labs. Hours of tense reconnaissance, internal debates, and urgent planning had led them here—to an underground installation where metal corridors and reinforced bulkheads replaced sunlight and open sky.
Alex hovered a few centimeters off the ground, arms folded, scanning the corridor's end. He looked calm, but Mira sensed the strain in him. Marcus paced restlessly, jaw tight. Li Chen tugged at her gloves, rehearsing illusions in her mind. Elena's visor hummed with sensor feeds. Striker stood slightly apart, his posture that of a soldier on deployment—alert, patient, lethal if need be.
They had argued about tactics. Striker had insisted on decisive action, on taking out threats hard and fast. Mira and Alex emphasized saving the innocent and leaving room for redemption. Li Chen yearned to prove herself without compromise. Marcus had grown quieter, weighed down by the stakes. Elena had watched them debate with a heavy heart, knowing every second they waited allowed Sovereign's plan to advance.
Now there was no more time. Sovereign's plan, whatever it entailed—mass-producing super-powered enforcers, environmental sabotage to force dependency, or something more terrible—was nearing completion. The infiltration had begun smoothly. They had passed security aboveground with minimal skirmishes. But now, below, the atmosphere changed. Elena had warned them of Nullifiers: devices designed to strip abilities away, leaving them vulnerable.
Alex broke the silence. "This is it. Elena, can we map the route?"
Elena tapped her visor, frowning. "There's interference. The nullifiers are already affecting scanners. I can approximate a path to the central lab, but it won't be perfect."
Mira touched Alex's arm, voice low. "We'll manage. We have to. Even if we lose our powers, we're more than our abilities."
Striker's eyes flicked between them. "We have a mission. Let's not lose sight of that. We get in, secure the data, stop Sovereign's final move."
Marcus nodded. "We do what we must. Let's move."
They advanced down the corridor. The lighting was dim and greenish, casting sickly shadows. The hum of machinery and distant alarms pressed on their ears. Suddenly, a door slammed open ahead, revealing a squad of heavily armed security forces, faces hidden behind tinted visors, and among them a handful of Reborn—enhanced soldiers, their powers refined to a razor's edge.
The Vanguard braced. Marcus summoned a small gust of air to disarm the nearest guard—but felt nothing stir. Li Chen tried to cast an illusion, only for a faint shimmer to vanish instantly. Mira reached for empathic clarity, only to sense a muddy static of emotions, too vague to guide them.
Nullifiers. They were active, draining or blocking their abilities. Without the sun's energy bathing him, Alex's reserves were finite. He felt no sudden flicker of power leaving him, but a slow weight settling in. He had been fighting and flying all day. Down here, his gifts faltered, each moment of exertion costing him, each attempt at super-speed or heat vision more taxing than the last.
The Reborn charged first, hoping to exploit their advantage. Alex moved forward, meeting them halfway. Without full strength, he parried a blow that rocked him back. Another Reborn swung a baton crackling with stored energy, forcing Alex to dodge rather than block. He tried a short burst of heat vision—just a flicker—but it came out weak, barely scorching the air. His heart sank.
Behind him, the team tried to hold formation. Striker relied on old military training, ducking low to sweep a guard's legs out. Elena, without her scanners fully functional, relied on a small shock device she'd rigged, delivering a jolt to a Reborn who got too close. Mira attempted to calm their foes emotionally with her presence, but the empathic deadening nullified that edge, leaving her to fight hand-to-hand. Li Chen picked up a fallen baton and swung clumsily, fighting panic.
Marcus wrestled with a guard, recalling old street-fighting moves from before he had powers. They struggled, blades scraping on metal flooring. It was chaos: bullets whining off walls, shouts echoing, boots scuffing as The Vanguard retreated step by step, forced back by superior numbers.
A harsh, metallic voice crackled over unseen speakers, amplified in the corridors. "Welcome, Vanguard," the voice said, cold and measured. "I admire your perseverance."
Mira's eyes widened. "Sovereign," she whispered, dread coiling in her belly.
"Indeed," the voice continued. "You stand in the heart of my operations. I commend your infiltration, but your heroics end here. Nullifiers ensure you're no more than lost children in the dark."
Alex gritted his teeth, deflecting a Reborn's punch with his forearm, though it stung badly. "Show yourself, Sovereign. Face us."
A pause. Then, at the corridor's far end, a reinforced door slid open. Within the gloom, a figure stepped forward—a sleek figure wearing a smooth, featureless gold mask, reflecting distorted shapes of light. Their posture regal, movements precise. Sovereign stood flanked by more Reborn, watching impassively.
"Face you?" Sovereign's voice was modulated, distant. "I need not risk myself. You've walked into my domain, where I control every factor. Nullifiers strip your gifts. My Reborn and security forces hold superior numbers and weaponry. You have, at best, made this an interesting test."
Elena clenched her fists. "We know your plan—creating an army, forcing crises to make the world depend on you. It won't work."
A soft, mechanical chuckle. "Won't it? You underestimate humanity's desperation. Once they see your heroism falter, see you powerless and defeated, they'll embrace my solutions. And once they rely on me, they'll never break free."
Striker tried to circle closer, but Sovereign raised a hand. A Reborn slammed him back with a baton strike. Marcus rushed to help, receiving a rifle butt to the shoulder for his trouble. Li Chen attempted one last illusion—just a spark of light—and failed. She nearly wept with frustration.
Mira's voice trembled. "We won't let you harm them. The people aren't pawns."
Sovereign tilted their masked head slightly. "So noble. Yet here you are, trapped in my halls, bleeding, tired, and soon to be destroyed. Your compassion is a curiosity, a variable. But it won't save you."
Bullets ricocheted. Alex had no choice but to shield his teammates physically. A round struck his shoulder, drawing blood. He hissed, staggering. Without super-durability at full strength, he was painfully mortal. Another shot grazed Elena's arm; Striker pulled her down behind a half-fallen crate.
As if directed by a choreographer, Sovereign's forces advanced in waves. The Vanguard was pushed deeper into the labyrinth, forced away from any exits. At each step, the nullifier field intensified. If any flicker of power had remained, it was gone now. They were just people—tired, wounded, determined but outmatched.
Alex panted, leaning against a wall to steady himself. He looked to Mira, who managed a fearful but resolute nod. Li Chen's eyes burned with resolve—powers or not, she would not yield. Marcus gripped a broken pipe, brandishing it as an improvised weapon. Elena held a shard of circuit board, her makeshift taser fried. Striker pressed a hand to a bruise on his cheek, scanning the corridor for any tactical advantage.
Sovereign observed from behind the Reborn lines, unfazed. "You did well to make it here, but I must thank you. Your presence confirms the efficacy of my nullifier network. If it can neutralize The Vanguard, it can quell any threat."
Another Reborn lunged, and Alex barely dodged. He swung back, landing a solid punch that rocked the soldier's helmet but left Alex's knuckles numb. Two guards fired short bursts from modified rifles, forcing Mira and Li Chen behind a support beam. Marcus tried to rush one shooter, taking a blow to his ribs. Striker intercepted a Reborn's attempt to flank them, trading blows that left both men breathing hard.
Elena, pinned down, searched for any panel, any loose wire to sabotage. She found a sealed conduit but without tools or powers, she couldn't break it open quickly enough.
Sovereign stepped closer, stopping at a safe distance, hands clasped behind their back. "No more tricks, no illusions, no wind, no empathy, no solar strength. You are heroes stripped bare, and now the world will see you fail."
Mira's voice, shaky but defiant, rose above the din. "We might be powerless, but we still stand. We still fight for them—for everyone you'd enslave with fear."
"Fight?" Sovereign sounded almost amused. "Fight as blind insects against a machine? Courageous, but meaningless."
The Vanguard huddled together, forming a final line of defense. Alex stood at the front, breath ragged, body aching. Every glance at Sovereign's masked face ignited fury and resolve in him. He refused to kneel.
Another round of gunfire sparked overhead. The team ducked. Another trio of Reborn marched forward, shock batons crackling. Without abilities to counter them, The Vanguard had no clear path out.
Alex whispered to his teammates: "No powers, no flight. But we have each other. Remember our training, our unity. We don't give in."
Li Chen nodded, a tear escaping one eye. Marcus grunted affirmatively. Elena swallowed, steeling herself. Striker gripped his fists. Mira, voice steady now, added, "We resist, no matter what."
Sovereign let the silence linger, savoring their predicament. Sirens and alarms continued to wail, echoing through the metal corridors. The final stage of Sovereign's plan neared fruition somewhere behind these foes, as machinery hummed ominously beyond their reach.
All seemed lost. No powers, surrounded by enemies, Sovereign observing impassively. Alex's strength waned with each second underground, no sunlight to renew him, no well of energy left untapped. He stood powerless for the first time since the meteor changed him, shielding his friends with his own body, battered and bloody but unbroken in spirit.
In that suffocating gloom, The Vanguard faced what might be their end, their last stand against Sovereign's legions. And Sovereign watched, confident, waiting for them to fall, convinced that fate and steel and cunning were on their side.