Chapter 14: A Race Against Time
The command center at the Academy was a hive of barely contained tension. The low hum of computers, the constant shuffle of footsteps, and the strained murmurs of operatives on their headsets filled the room. Every screen displayed a different image of the destruction—satellite feeds, aerial shots, news reports slowly trickling in about Galewood.
At the heart of it all was Marianne Kyros, her sharp eyes fixed on the holographic display in front of her. The blast zone of Galewood glowed in a harsh red, the epicenter still sending out faint heat signatures. In all her years at the Academy, she had never seen anything like it. The devastation was total, the destruction unfathomable.
Her fingers tapped rhythmically on the sleek surface of the conference table as she scanned the data. The holographic map flickered, showing the movements of their task force, still struggling to get through the ruined streets of the city.
“Give me an update,” Marianne ordered, her voice cutting through the low murmur of the room.
Jonas Keene, the head of the Academy’s special operations unit, looked up from his console. His face was tight, tension etched into every line. “The task force is approaching the outskirts of Galewood. They’re about ten minutes out from making contact with the targets.”
“That’s too long,” Marianne said, her voice hard. “We don’t have ten minutes. The public is already getting wind of this, and we have no control over the narrative. What’s the hold-up?”
“The terrain is unstable,” Keene replied, his voice strained. “The explosion tore apart the infrastructure, and there are fires everywhere. They’re doing what they can, but it’s slowing them down.”
Marianne’s jaw clenched. “Then they need to move faster. We need Jake and Levi in custody now, before this spirals out of control.”
She glanced at the screen, where heat signatures indicated the approximate locations of the two young men. They were still alive, staggering through the ruins of Galewood, but how long that would last was anyone’s guess. Especially Jake.
The destruction was almost certainly the result of Jake’s power spiraling out of control. They had been watching him for weeks, tracking his growing instability, but this… this was far beyond what anyone had expected.
Keene nodded, his fingers flying across his tablet as he relayed orders to the task force. “We’re on it.”
Marianne turned her gaze back to the display, her mind racing. The Academy had faced crises before, but this was different. This wasn’t some rogue metahuman causing minor chaos in an isolated town. This was a catastrophic event—a level of destruction that would be impossible to cover up.
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Her thoughts flickered to Kieran, the Academy’s top empath, who had been monitoring the situation from their surveillance room. She hadn’t been there when it happened, but she had seen the aftermath. Kieran, a veteran agent, had been overwhelmed by the explosion—by the sheer force of the emotions that had flooded in from hundreds of thousands of lives snuffed out in an instant.
He hadn’t survived it.
Marianne’s stomach turned as she remembered the medics finding Kieran collapsed in the surveillance room, blood pouring from his nose and ears. He had died almost instantly, his mind shattered by the emotional shockwave from Galewood. That loss alone had shaken the entire team. Kieran had been strong, resilient—an asset they had relied on for years. If he had succumbed to the intensity of the emotions…
Her gaze shifted back to the map. And Levi survived?
She didn’t understand how. Kieran, one of the most experienced empaths in the Academy, had died from the force of what he felt from far away, but Levi—who had been at ground zero—was still alive. She wasn’t sure what to make of it, but something about Levi’s survival didn’t sit right with her.
“Ma’am,” one of the analysts called out, pulling her attention back to the present. “We’ve intercepted local communications. They’ve already made contact with emergency services, but no one’s reporting back from inside the city. It’s complete chaos down there.”
“How long before the news spreads?” Marianne asked, her voice tight.
“Not long,” the analyst replied, glancing at his screen. “News choppers have already been spotted in the area. It won’t be long before they start broadcasting footage. We’re trying to manage the feed, but there’s too much public visibility.”
Marianne cursed under her breath. The situation was spiraling out of control faster than she’d anticipated. The public was already sniffing around, and it wouldn’t be long before word got out about the scale of the destruction. They needed to contain this before it became a worldwide scandal.
“What’s our status with the government?” she asked, turning to Keene.
Keene grimaced. “They’ve been briefed, but they’re waiting for confirmation before making any public statements. For now, they’re letting us handle it.”
“For now,” Marianne muttered darkly. “But if we don’t bring them something concrete soon, they’ll step in and take over.”
The Academy’s standing with the government was precarious at best. They had been given authority over metahuman incidents because they were the experts, but that authority was always under threat. One wrong move—one event like this—and the government might seize control, and the Academy would be left picking up the pieces.
“Tell the task force they need to prioritize Jake,” Marianne ordered. “He’s the immediate threat. Secure him first.”
Keene nodded, relaying the instructions to the team on the ground. “Jake’s their priority. What about Levi?”
Marianne hesitated, her eyes narrowing as she stared at Levi’s heat signature on the map. “Levi… he’s a secondary target. His abilities are still unclear. I don’t want them engaging with him until its necessary.”
Keene raised an eyebrow. “With respect, ma’am, Levi may be the only one who can influence Jake if he loses control again. They’ve always had a strong connection.”
Marianne shook her head. “No I’m not so sure after this. Whatever happened out there might have changed their dynamic. We can’t rely on Levi to control Jake anymore. We need to approach this carefully.”
Her eyes flicked back to the image of the city, still smoldering, still sending up thick plumes of smoke. This wasn’t a simple containment mission. This was a crisis on an unprecedented scale, and if they didn’t act quickly, the Academy’s reputation would be in tatters.
And deep down, she couldn’t shake the thought that something was wrong with Levi. He had survived something that should have killed him, and that wasn’t a coincidence.
But there was no time to dwell on it now.
“Keep me updated on the task force’s progress,” Marianne said, her tone icy and controlled. “I want to know the moment they make contact with Jake and Levi.”
Keene nodded, his attention already back on his screen, issuing rapid-fire instructions to the team.
As Marianne turned to leave the room, her mind buzzed with a thousand calculations. Kieran was dead, Galewood was destroyed, and Jake and Levi were still on the loose. It was a disaster on every level, and if the Academy didn’t contain it, there would be hell to pay