Chapter 183: A New Threat: The First Outbreak
One month.
For a whole month, everything was quiet. The secret war had gone still, and the silence was almost too much to bear.
The team resumed their routine. They had to train in the morning and the training was brutal.
CLANG!
Jonah stumbled back, his arm got numb from the force of the blow. Draven stood over him in the training simulator, his practice sword on his shoulder. He wasn’t even breathing hard.
"Too slow," Draven grunted. "You’re overthinking this situation, expecting an attack from the front. A real enemy won’t be so nice."
"I’m not a front-line fighter," Jonah said softly.
"Doesn’t matter," Draven said, his face turning serious. "In a real fight, everyone is on the front line."
The last month had changed Draven. He really wanted to make them all strong enough to survive the next time they faced a collapsing mountain.
Afternoons were for research. Jonah and Vanessa spent hours in their new, upgraded workshop, surrounded by glowing screens showing Thorne’s stolen data. They were trying to get ahead, to understand the madman’s science so they could stop it.
But the waiting was the hardest part. The Headmaster and General Ironwood were stuck in endless political meetings, preparing for the big summit with the Silver Phoenix Empire. The world’s leaders were talking, and while they talked, the fighters had to wait.
They all felt like trapped animals, walking around and waiting for the true fight to begin once more.
The wait ended on a quiet Tuesday afternoon.
Jonah was in the workshop, watching Vanessa try out the Gemini’s mind connection, when a loud sound burst through the Academy.
It was a loud alarm that made the tools on the workbenches shake.
"What is that?" Jonah asked, his head snapping up.
"I don’t know," Vanessa said, her face pale as she spun toward her main console.
Seraph’s voice came through the workshop’s speaker with a static sound. "Jonah, Vanessa. War room. Now. It’s happening."
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The War Room, the secret chamber where the Headmaster and General Ironwood now ran their shadow war, was buzzing with a frantic energy.
General Ironwood stood before a big glowing map of the nation, his face showing strong, angry feelings. The Headmaster was on a screen next to him, looking tired and very worried.
One angry red dot glowed on the map, located on a remote stretch of the southern coast.
"What’s the situation?" Seraph asked, her voice cutting through the tension.
"We’ve lost all contact with the town of Port Blossom," General Ironwood said, his voice a low growl. "It’s a small fishing town. Nothing of strategic value."
He zoomed in on the blinking red dot. "The final transmission came in five minutes ago. It was a mess, mostly static and screaming. But the comms officer pulled two clear words out of the noise before the line went dead."
He paused, and the two words he said next made everyone in the room feel afraid.
"Metal demons."
The room was silent. Not a beast. Not a monster. A big group of them.
"Thorne," Jonah said, the name feeling like a curse.
"It has to be," Ironwood agreed. "He waited until we were completely focused by this damned summit, and then he made his move." He slammed his fist on the console. "All of our elite forces are positioned to handle the diplomatic fallout. I can’t pull a single unit without causing a global issue!"
The timing was perfect. While the world’s leaders were busy talking, Thorne had quietly unleashed his first plague.
As the General and the Headmaster debated their limited options, a soft ping came from the Headmaster’s console. A new message had arrived. It looked smooth, well-made and marked with a logo Jonah had never seen before: a stylized, silver ’S’.
"What is this?" Ironwood demanded.
The Headmaster’s eyes got smaller as he read the message. "It’s an offer," he said, his voice full of doubt. "From the Sterling Syndicate."
The name meant nothing to Jonah, but he saw the look of surprise and alarm on the General’s face.
"They’re a massive global corporation," Seraph explained in a low whisper. "Huge. They’re into everything. Tech, shipping, energy..."
"Their offer is... humanitarian," the Headmaster continued, sounding like he didn’t quite believe it. "They claim their private satellite network detected a ’localized seismic event’ in the Port Blossom area. They are publicly offering to send a privately-funded relief force and a reconstruction team to help the town."
The room fell silent again. The offer was a brilliant and scary move. It was too good to be true. While the military was tied up with politics, a private corporation was swooping in to look like the hero.
"They’re making a power play," Ironwood growled. "They’re taking advantage of this terrible situation to make us look weak and not good at our job."
"It’s worse than that," the Headmaster said, staring at the last words of the message. "The offer comes with a private request. The CEO of the Syndicate, a man named Julian Sterling, has personally requested a formal meeting with ’the heroes of the Genesis Incident’..."
He looked up from the screen and met Jonah’s.
"...to ’coordinate relief efforts’."
The trap was closed. It was a perfect checkmate. They couldn’t say no the offer of help without looking arrogant and heartless. And they couldn’t refuse the meeting without making an enemy of one of the most powerful corporations in the world.
Jonah felt a sudden chill of fear. He knew for sure what would come next.
The Headmaster’s voice was harsh. He looked tired, like a someone who had to give up his most important player in a game he was losing.
He gave the order.
"Jonah," the Headmaster said, his voice sounding tired. "It seems your next mission will not be on a battlefield."
He looked at the message, then back at Jonah, and his meaning was clear. The hunt for Thorne was on hold. A new, more dangerous game had just started.
"Get your suit ready. You’re going to a party."