Magnograv arrived at the warehouse, his voice cutting through the tension like a blade.
"Stop right there," he ordered.
Silver turned back, fear flashing in his eyes. His grip loosened, and the hyper-fusion laser clattered to the ground.
"What are you doing here?!" he demanded, panicked. "How did you even get here?!"
Magnograv stepped forward. "I need to stop you from making that weapon of yours."
Silver's expression darkened. "My weapon?! How did you find out about that?!" He squared his shoulders. "Either way, I won't let you destroy it—not after everything I've been through to build it."
"I won't do anything to you," Magnograv said calmly, "if you just let me destroy that thing. Then I'll be on my way."
"In that case," Silver growled, activating his suit as a sleek blue armor enveloped his body, "you'll have to get through me first."
Magnograv took a deep breath. So he has a suit too, he thought. I wonder what else he's been hiding from me. Out loud, he said, "Beatrix, ready the weapons."
Silver's voice softened with an edge of desperation. "Please… just let me do this in peace. In time, you'll understand why it's so important I do this now."
"That's just it," Magnograv replied. "We don't know why you're building something that could throw an entire country into chaos. And you expect me to just let that happen? Not a chance."
Damn it, Silver thought. He's got the wrong idea. I don't think he's going to listen anymore. Out loud, he muttered, "Okay… let's do this."
Silver launched at him with the first punch, forcing Magnograv backward and out of the warehouse.
He's fast, Magnograv thought as he steadied himself. My gravity manipulation doesn't have a wide range yet, and my body's still adjusting to the increased gravity… Using it now would be too risky.
Silver charged again, but this time Magnograv met him with a powerful punch, knocking him down, then followed up with a heavy kick that sent Silver sliding to the side. Seizing the moment, Magnograv grabbed him and pinned him to the ground.
Good thing I learned how to strengthen my body using gravity manipulation, Magnograv thought.
In a desperate attempt to escape, Silver aimed his suit's arm at Magnograv and fired a plasma ray. Magnograv released him just in time, narrowly dodging the blast. The ray shot upward, piercing through the warehouse roof and disintegrating it, leaving the building exposed to the sky.
The battle exploded into full force.
Silver was on his feet in an instant, slamming a button on his wrist. A gleaming cyber shield unfolded across his left forearm, catching the warehouse lights with a sharp glow. As Magnograv hurled a wave of sharpened scrap metal at him using magnetism, Silver ducked low and brought the shield up. The shards clanged against it with force, some embedding into the floor around him.
"You're Strong" Magnograv muttered.
"Better than you, if I do say so myself." Silver shot back, vaulting off a metal crate and unleashing another plasma blast midair. Magnograv bent gravity to his will, anchoring himself in place and absorbing the force with a gravity field that shimmered around his body. He then lifted his hand and pulled nearby metallic barrels toward Silver like missiles.
Silver activated a propulsion burst from his boots, dodging midair as the barrels exploded behind him. Mid-flight, he threw a cylindrical device that split into a dozen micro-drones, each firing rapid energy pulses at Magnograv. The air crackled with heat.
Magnograv growled and shifted polarity, creating a magnetic dome around him. The pulses sparked harmlessly against it. He stomped the ground, manipulating localized gravity to create a shock-wave that flattened the drones and knocked Silver from the air.
Silver crashed through a support beam and rolled to his feet, gasping.
"You're not bad," he said through clenched teeth, "but I'm not done yet."
He slammed both palms to the ground. A trap embedded in the warehouse floor activated—four plasma rods rose up around Magnograv, forming a square that lit up with an energy net. The trap crackled, locking onto Magnograv's magnetic signature.
But Magnograv smirked.
"Clever," he said, floating off the ground slightly. "But I'm not made of metal."
With a powerful wave of his arms, he reversed the gravitational flow inside the trap. The rods buckled and were pulled down into the ground like they were being swallowed by the earth. The net fizzled out.
Magnograv surged forward, boosting his speed by reducing gravity's pull on his own body. Silver barely managed to activate his cyber shield in time, the reinforced energy barrier crackling as it absorbed a flurry of gravity-amplified punches.
Each strike felt like being hit with the force of a falling meteor.
Silver winced, diverting power to his shield, then countered with a hidden blade that emerged from his gauntlet. He slashed—but Magnograv caught his wrist mid-swing and redirected him midair, slamming him through a stack of crates.
Dust and sparks filled the air. The hyper-fusion laser tipped as Silver's body hit the table it rested on.
Magnograv saw it and panicked. "No—!"
Silver, recovering, saw the same thing—and in horror realized a few stray projectiles from earlier were now arcing toward the laser.
Magnograv summoned a final magnetic wave, trying to redirect the objects. But he was a second too late. One of the metal scraps collided with the core housing, and another impulse charge lit up its systems. The hyper-fusion laser shook violently, its emitter rising, aimed straight at the sky.
A deep hum filled the air as energy surged into the weapon.
And then, with a scream of light, the laser discharged.
Magnograv lashed out with a kick charged by gravity reinforcement, sending Silver flying. He crashed through one of the warehouse walls, slamming into a table and knocking over the hyper-fusion laser. The weapon tipped dangerously upward.
Magnograv wasn't done. Channeling magnetism, he attracted several blunt metallic objects and hurled them toward Silver, charging them with an electric impulse.
Silver leapt aside, trying to dodge, but some of the objects struck the hyper-fusion laser. The combination of impact and electric charge caused the weapon to malfunction. With a sudden surge, it fired upward—its beam blasting uncontrollably into the sky.
Meanwhile, aboard a space station orbiting Earth…
Sia Martins, the youngest space engineer in the world, had just completed her mission to repair a faulty satellite.
"Station, do you read me?" she radioed in as she made her way back to the shuttle.
"We read you loud and clear," came the response.
"The issue with the satellite is resolved. I'm heading back now."
"Mission accomplished."
Suddenly, Sia's eyes widened behind her helmet. A bright beam of energy was streaking toward her from the planet's surface.
"Mayday, mayday!" she cried. "I'm about to get hit by something coming from Earth!"
The voice on the other end was confused. "Repeat your last?!"
But there was no time.
The beam slammed into her, sending her tumbling backward into the void as her scream echoed through the comms.
"AAARRRRGGGHHH!"