🚨 HE THOUGHT HE WAS SAVING HIS GRANDFATHER. HE WAS HELPING A KILLER.

"You saw it, didn't you?" Richard asked. His voice no longer held the gentle warmth of a father. It was smooth, flat, and chillingly corporate.

Leo didn't answer. He couldn't. His breath caught in his chest as Richard slowly reached inside his suit coat, pulled out the silver remote, and casually tossed it into his lap.

"It doesn't change anything, Leo," Richard said, sliding into the seat opposite him as the helicopter's rotors roared to life, kicking up a hurricane of dust and dead leaves outside. "Whether Arthur wanted to harvest you today or next month is irrelevant. He was going to do it eventually. I just accelerated the timeline."

"You tricked me," Leo choked out, his hands trembling against the leather restraint harness. "You made me hate him!"

"I made you obedient," Richard corrected coldly. "Hatred is a very effective compliance tool. If you thought I was your savior, you’d walk onto this aircraft without a fight. And look at that—it worked."

Outside, through the heavy plexiglass window, Leo saw the black-clad guards hauling Arthur and Clara toward a secondary transport vehicle. Arthur was fighting, wildly swinging his fists, but he was hopelessly outmatched. A guard struck him across the face with a stun baton, and Arthur collapsed into the mud.

"What are you going to do to them?!" Leo screamed, pounding his fist against the window. "Stop! Don't hurt them!"

"Your grandfather has outlived his usefulness by sixteen years," Richard said, checking a gold watch on his wrist. "And Miss Clara... well, former CIA operatives who turn rogue rarely enjoy a comfortable retirement."

Richard reached forward, pressing a button on the helicopter’s control panel. "Captain, execute disposal protocol on the ground assets."

"NO!" Leo shrieked.

Adrenaline surged through Leo’s veins, hotter and faster than anything he had ever felt in his life. Deep within his chest, a strange, burning sensation ignited—a violent, thrumming heat that radiated down his arms and into his fingertips.

Without thinking, Leo grabbed the steel buckle of his heavy-duty harness and pulled.

The high-strength titanium latch didn't just unbuckle—it snapped in half.

Richard’s eyes widened in genuine shock. "What...?"

Leo didn't understand what was happening to his body, but he didn't care. He lunged across the cabin, throwing his entire weight into Richard. The force of the impact drove both of them against the far door of the helicopter.

"Security!" Richard roared, trying to pin Leo down, but Leo's strength was terrifying. The 16-year-old boy knocked Richard’s arm aside like a twig and slammed his elbow into Richard’s jaw.

Richard reeled back, blood spurting from his lip.

Leo grabbed the helicopter door handle, threw it open, and looked down. They were twenty feet in the air and rising fast.

Below, one of the guards had raised his rifle, aiming directly at Arthur’s head.

"GRANDPA!" Leo screamed, and without a second thought, he jumped.

"LEO, NO!" Richard yelled from the cabin.

Leo plummeted through the air. The wind roared in his ears. Gravity yanked him down, the ground rushing up to meet him at lethal speed. A normal human dropping from twenty-five feet onto hard, rocky terrain would break both legs, shatter a pelvis, or die on impact.

CRASH!

Leo hit the ground right on top of the guard pointing the gun at Arthur.

The sheer force of the impact pulverized the guard’s body armor, driving both of them into the dirt in a cloud of dust. The noise was like a cannon shot.

Leo lay in the crater, gasping. He heard the terrifying sound of his own bones snapping—his left femur fractured, his shoulder dislocated, his ribs shattered. The pain was an ocean of agony that threatened to drown his consciousness.

"Leo!" Arthur gasped, dragging himself forward. "Oh God, Leo!"

Then, something unnatural happened.

Beneath Leo’s skin, a bright, iridescent golden light flickered through his veins.

Snap. Pop. Crack.

The agonizing pain vanished as quickly as it had arrived. Leo watched in stunned horror as his left thigh visibly twitched—his fractured femur snapping back together in seconds. His dislocated shoulder forced itself back into the socket with a sickening thump.

Within four seconds, he was completely healed.

The Prometheus Gene hadn't just woken up. It was accelerating.

Leo stood up, his breathing heavy, his eyes glowing with a faint, terrifying luminescent sheen.

The second guard scrambled backward in utter horror, dropping his weapon. "What... what kind of monster is he?!"

Leo turned his gaze toward the guard. He didn't feel like a scared teenager anymore. He felt a cold, unstoppable power surging through every cell of his body.

"Run," Leo said. His voice echoed with a subtle, strange resonance.

The guard didn't hesitate. He turned and sprinted into the woods, abandoning his weapons, his vehicle, and his boss.

Above them, the helicopter banked hard, hovering overhead. Richard stood at the open door, staring down at Leo with a mixture of terror and obsessive fascination.

"Magnificent..." Richard whispered into his radio headset, his voice trembling with greed. "The gene has fully bonded. It's fully active!"

Clara, who had regained consciousness, dragged herself out of the mud, grabbing an abandoned assault rifle from the ground. She aimed up at the helicopter and opened fire.

Bullets pinged off the armored underbelly of the aircraft. Richard stepped back into the cabin, and the helicopter veered away, speeding off toward the horizon.

Silence fell over the clearing.

Leo stood amidst the smoke and dirt, looking at his hands. They were smooth. Not a single scratch remained.

Arthur pushed himself off the ground, trembling as he approached his grandson. He reached out a hand, hesitation in his eyes. "Leo... are you..."

Leo stepped back, pulling away from Arthur’s reach. The golden glow in his eyes faded, replaced by an icy, hollow stare.

"Don't touch me," Leo said coldly.

"Leo, I had to let him believe I was weak," Arthur pleaded, his voice breaking. "I knew Richard was watching! I had to play the villain so he wouldn't kill you on the spot!"

"I don't care," Leo replied, turning to look at Clara. "Both of you lied to me. Both of you used me."

"Kid," Clara said, lowering her weapon, her face pale. "You don't understand what you just did. By activating the gene, you just sent a homing signal to every Apex Vanguard operative within five hundred miles. They aren't just coming for you now..."