Derek moved through the city like a wraith, the static hum of his suit crackling softly in the air around him. The battle with the hydra already felt distant, like it had happened in someone else's dream. He wasn't interested in questions. Not from the Genesis Squad, not from satellites, not from whatever shadowy government mouth-breather had just slapped a codename on him.
He only had one thought.
Lila.
The streets blurred as he sprinted past shattered cars and the burned-out shells of city buses, their frames twisted like they'd screamed before dying. Fires still smouldered in gutter drains and inside broken windows, casting flickering shadows on the ruins. The stench of scorched flesh clung to the air like a living thing—thick, oily, sweet in a way that turned the stomach.
