John staggered through the city streets, his body barely holding together. Every muscle ached, every wound screamed, but he kept moving. His fight with Marrow had drained him. He needed to rest. To heal.

  But the city didn’t wait.

  His vision blurred as he turned into a side street, rain slicking the pavement, neon signs buzzing overhead. He barely had time to register the figures stepping out of the shadows.

  A gang of thugs. Four. Maybe five.

  "Well, well," one of them sneered, stepping forward. "Look what we got here."

  John tensed, trying to stay upright. He was too weak for this. Too slow.

  The first punch came fast, cracking against his jaw. He staggered. Another hit. A boot to his ribs.

  They surrounded him, fists and boots landing heavy. He grunted, trying to fight back, but he was outnumbered. Wounded. He couldn’t block them all.

  Then he heard it.

  A sound that sent ice through his veins.

  A skittering.

  The thugs froze as something moved in the darkness.

  Legs. Dozens of them.

  One of the thugs turned just in time to see Centipede launch himself out of the shadows, his limbs stretching unnaturally, moving with inhuman speed.

  Before the thug could scream, Centipede’s legs wrapped around his torso. A sickening crack. His body went limp.

  The others barely had time to react.

  Ogre stepped forward.

  A single swing of his massive fist sent two men crashing into a nearby dumpster.

  John groaned, forcing himself onto one elbow.

  Centipede’s compound eyes gleamed in the dim light, his mandibles twitching in amusement.

  "You're really not doing great, are you, Harkin?"

  John spat blood onto the pavement. "Been better."

  Centipede sighed dramatically, stepping over one of the unconscious thugs. "These idiots think they run the city now. All this chaos is screwing with my business."

  He crouched beside John, tilting his head. "And here you are, getting your ass kicked in an alley. Not a great look."

  John exhaled sharply. "You here to gloat, or what?"

  Centipede smirked. "Nah. Just making sure you don’t get yourself killed. That privilege should belong to me one day."

  John tried to push himself up, but his legs wouldn’t cooperate.

  Centipede clicked his mandibles in annoyance. "Ogre. Pick him up."

  Ogre didn’t hesitate. The giant reached down and lifted John like he weighed nothing.

  John groaned. "I can walk—"

  Ogre grunted. "Don’t care."

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  And just like that, John stopped fighting.

  Centipede dusted off his coat, looking at the unconscious thugs around them. "Idiots. No respect. No structure. This city’s turning into a damn circus."

  John sighed. "Welcome to my world."

  Centipede smirked. "Let’s get you patched up, Harkin. You owe me a drink."

  And with that, they disappeared into the shadows.

  Cerberus descended into the war-torn district, boots slamming into the cracked asphalt with an impact that sent dust spiraling into the air. The devastation was massive—entire buildings had collapsed, the streets were webbed with deep cracks, and overturned vehicles smoldered from the sheer force of the sonic booms that had ripped through the area.

  His central head remained still, his piercing blue eyes scanning for movement, while his left and right heads flickered with tactical analysis. No civilians left in the area. That was a small mercy.

  But then—

  A gust of wind. A blur of motion.

  A figure appeared atop an overturned truck, balancing effortlessly on one foot, arms stretched out like a tightrope walker. He was lean, built like a coiled spring, a blur of red and silver, his suit slick and aerodynamic. A faint afterimage lingered behind him, an optical illusion created by his speed.

  Sonic Boom.

  He grinned wide, teeth glinting in the flickering light of a nearby fire.

  “Well, well, look who finally decided to show up,” he taunted, rolling his shoulders. His voice was laced with cocky amusement, carrying easily despite the distance between them.

  Cerberus didn’t react. His central head stared straight ahead, unreadable, while his two side heads adjusted—one analyzing Sonic Boom’s movement patterns, the other monitoring the wind displacement in the area.

  Sonic Boom’s grin widened. “Ohhh, scary. You’re the serious type, huh? No jokes? No clever banter?” He vanished in a blur and reappeared inches from Cerberus’s face, whispering, “Boring.”

  Cerberus struck.

  A backhand that should’ve taken Sonic Boom’s head clean off.

  But it hit nothing but air.

  Sonic Boom had already reappeared ten feet away, laughing.

  “Gotta be quicker than that, big guy!”

  Cerberus exhaled, unimpressed.

  “Your speed is impressive,” he admitted, rolling his shoulders. “But you’re not the first I’ve encountered.”

  Sonic Boom arched an eyebrow. “Yeah? How’d that work out for them?”

  Cerberus’s right head flared with energy.

  “They’re dead.”

  Sonic Boom’s grin faltered— just for a second.

  Then he vanished.

  The battle began.

  A sonic boom cracked through the air as Sonic Boom blitzed forward, faster than the human eye could track. He struck Cerberus’s ribs, then disappeared, appearing behind him to land another hit. Then another. A storm of rapid blows, each one faster than the last.

  Cerberus barely flinched.

  His body was too strong, too dense. The hits hurt, but not enough to matter.

  Sonic Boom skidded to a stop, frowning. “Huh. That usually drops people.”

  Cerberus launched himself forward, closing the gap in a fraction of a second.

  His left head’s eyes flared—gravity vision activated.

  The air around Sonic Boom thickened instantly, crushing him downward.

  But Sonic Boom was fast.

  Too fast.

  He twisted mid-air, redirecting the force into a spin, using the sudden gravity increase to slingshot himself to the side, landing lightly on a half-crumbled rooftop.

  He whistled. “Okay. You might actually be fun.”

  Cerberus remained silent. His right head glowed brighter.

  Heat vision.

  A beam of pure destruction erupted from his eyes, slicing toward Sonic Boom.

  The speedster barely escaped, but not untouched.

  A split-second late.

  The beam grazed his left arm, burning through fabric and scorching skin.

  Sonic Boom hissed in pain, but he grinned through it. “Alright, alright—you got a little something.”

  Cerberus took a step forward, his voice calm. “This ends now.”

  Sonic Boom cracked his

  neck.

  “Let’s find out.”

  And then he disappeared again.

  Sonic Boom blurred through the battlefield, leaving behind a rippling shockwave with every movement. He was faster than sight, faster than thought— and even with Cerberus’s advanced reflexes, he was proving to be a nightmare to pin down.

  Each time Cerberus struck, his fists met empty air.

  Each time he fired a blast, it carved into nothing but ruined concrete and shattered debris.

  Sonic Boom was laughing now, his voice a distorted echo from every direction. “What’s wrong, big guy? Not used to someone playing keep-away?”

  Cerberus’s central head remained impassive, but his side heads flared with irritation.

  His left head calculated movement trajectories, predicting where Sonic Boom would move next.

  His right head flickered with energy, his heat vision primed to incinerate anything in its path.

  And yet—Sonic Boom was still faster.

  The speedster struck him from behind, a rapid series of brutal hits to the kidneys, then flickered away before Cerberus could counter.

  Then another hit to the ribs.

  Then a strike to the jaw.

  Cerberus staggered for the first time.

  Sonic Boom reappeared atop a ruined light pole, grinning. “C’mon, Paragon. You’re supposed to be the best. Why do you look so damn slow?”

  That was it.

  That was the moment the frustration broke through.

  Cerberus clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking like gunfire.

  His left head’s eyes pulsed.

  Gravity increased across the entire battlefield.

  Sonic Boom faltered mid-step. His movement—slower. His weight—doubled, then tripled.

  “Shit—”

  Cerberus launched himself forward with inhuman speed. He wasn’t as fast as Sonic Boom— but now, he didn’t need to be.

  Sonic Boom tried to move, but the gravity held him down just enough.

  Just enough for Cerberus to grab him.

  He slammed the speedster into the pavement so hard the ground buckled.

  Sonic Boom coughed blood, but still smirked. “Oh—so you can hit me.”

  He flickered— just barely. His speed wasn’t entirely gone.

  Cerberus tightened his grip. “You rely too much on your speed.”

  Sonic Boom’s grin faltered.

  “Let’s see how well you fight without it.”

  CRACK.

  Cerberus drove his knee into Sonic Boom’s leg, snapping the femur in two.

  The speedster screamed.

  Cerberus didn’t stop.

  He twisted the leg the wrong way, shattering the knee joint with a brutal stomp.

  Another sickening snap.

  Sonic Boom howled in agony, thrashing, trying to vibrate out of Cerberus’s grip, but the gravity kept him pinned. His entire body convulsed from the pain, his once-effortless movements now reduced to desperate, jerking twitches.

  The cocky smile was gone.

  “Not so fast now, are you?” Cerberus said coldly.

  Sonic Boom could barely breathe. His vision swam. His legs—

  His legs were ruined.

  Cerberus stepped back, watching as Sonic Boom writhed, gasping through clenched teeth.

  Then, slowly, Cerberus deactivated the gravity field.

  “Run,” he said flatly.

  Sonic Boom didn’t move.

  He couldn’t.

  His whole identity—his entire life— had been built on speed.

  And now he had none.

  Cerberus didn’t look at him again. He activated his communicator.

  “Target neutralized. Send retrieval.”

  Then he walked away.

  Leaving Sonic Boom broken and screaming in the dirt.