Darkness swallowed the street.

  The hum of electricity was gone. No flickering street lights, no glowing billboards, just darkness, broken only by the distant wail of alarms and the faint beams of police flashlights cutting through the night. For a brief moment, it was as if the entire city had stopped breathing.

  Nathan's heart raced as he stood near the barricade, his visor adjusting to low-light mode, casting faint outlines over the chaos. Around him, other heroes shifted uneasily, their instincts faltering. Some tried activating their abilities, sparking fingers, glowing eyes, only to find the blackout interfering with their tech and dampening their power systems. Murmurs of confusion swept through the teams like a ripple of fear.

  "This can't be happening… my energy's not responding…"

  "What about comms? Anyone getting through?"

  "Stay calm. We need…"

  The veterans barked orders, but the uncertainty was clear. Without their powers, without their systems, the line between hero and human blurred fast.

  Nathan's eyes locked onto the bank. He didn't need his power right now. He needed his mind.

  He gripped his comm out of habit, but there was only static. His mind went back to the blueprints he had studied. The entry points, the guard rotations, the emergency exits. He could see it all in his head like a mental map.

  Lucas stepped closer. "What's the plan?"

  Astra's eyes were sharp, but even she was waiting.

  Nathan inhaled slowly. For the first time, they weren't looking to the strongest. They were looking to him.

  "The side corridor. There's a blind spot near the security room," Nathan said, his voice steady despite the hammering in his chest. "Follow me."

  No hesitation. Lucas nodded. Astra followed.

  Nathan moved swiftly, leading Lucas and Astra along the side of the building. Their footsteps were barely audible over the distant commotion. Each step carried the weight of expectation, but something felt different this time. Nathan's fear of being the weak link began to loosen its grip.

  They trusted him.

  He whispered instructions, drawing from hours of training drills. "Tight formation. Low visibility works both ways, we stay quiet."

  Lucas and Astra responded with silent nods. Nathan directed them toward a service entrance he remembered from the schematics. A keypad lock glowed faintly, but the outage rendered it useless. Lucas tested the door, it was jammed.

  Nathan signaled for Lucas to brace his weight. "Slow and quiet," Nathan whispered. Lucas applied pressure, forcing the door open with a low creak. Nathan's chest tightened as he scanned the dim interior.

  He guided the team into the corridor. The robbers were somewhere inside, but rushing in could get someone hurt. "Systematic sweep," Nathan muttered to calm himself. "Room by room. No mistakes."

  They moved with precision, Nathan marking rooms safe, Astra covering their rear, and Lucas ready to act. With each cleared section, Nathan's confidence grew.

  His power wasn't carrying him. His mind was.

  As they went deeper into the building, Nathan's senses sharpened beyond the immediate task. His eyes tracked every detail. The shift patterns he had memorized earlier, the oddly positioned security cameras. Something wasn't right.

  The camera angles weren't random malfunctions from the blackout. They had been turned intentionally, designed to leave blind spots, but only in specific areas. Nathan's pulse quickened.

  He motioned for the others to stop. "Wait," he whispered. His gaze followed the path of the disabled cameras. A pattern emerged, aligning perfectly with the guard rotations he had noticed before the power cut. This wasn't coincidence. It was too precise.

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  He exchanged a quick glance with Astra, her expression mirroring his growing suspicion. "This isn't just a robbery," Nathan murmured. "It's too organized."

  Astra leaned in. "A diversion?"

  Nathan nodded. "Or cover for something worse. They're moving like they know this building better than we do."

  His mind pieced it together, the blackout, the coordinated movements, the compromised security systems. "This is meta-crime," Nathan said, the words carrying weight. "They're not just here for cash. They're after something else, data, maybe… or planting something inside."

  Astra's eyes narrowed. "We need to be careful."

  The situation escalated without warning. A burst of gunfire echoed from the main lobby, like thunder. Sharp, panicked shouts followed.

  Nathan's breath caught as his earpiece crackled back to life, distorted voices confirming what he feared.

  A guard had attempted to stop the criminals, but now the guard had become a hostage.

  Nathan's squad was closest.

  "Move!" Nathan urged, his heart racing. Lucas and Astra locked eyes with him, a wordless understanding passing between them.

  They quickly moved through the tight hallways, arriving near the lobby's side entrance.

  Through the shattered glass doors, Nathan spotted the gunman, a mask covering his face. The barrel of his weapon gleamed under the emergency lights. His trembling grip on the weapon made his desperation clear. A hostage knelt nearby, eyes wide with terror, tears streaming down their face.

  Nathan's instincts kicked in. He reached for Echo, this was his moment. He needed to rewind, to fix this.

  Nothing.

  The familiar sensation of rewinding time didn't come. His power failed.

  He froze, panic clawing at his chest. For a heartbeat, the voice of doubt whispered in his mind: Weak. Failure. Useless.

  But Lucas shifted forward, muscles coiled. Astra's eyes locked on the gunman's stance, as she assessed the trajectory of potential attacks. They were waiting for Nathan. Not for his power, but waiting for him.

  Nathan's expression hardened, determination replacing fear. "Lucas, create a distraction. Astra, take the left angle. I'll signal the officers."

  Lucas stormed forward, shouting, as he launched himself like a human missile. The gunman's attention snapped toward him, his eyes widening in panic behind the mask.

  Astra moved like a shadow, flanking silently. Her eyes blazed violet as she extended her hand. The air around her fingers distorted with glistening energy

  Nathan signaled the police with precise hand movements, two officers raised shield barriers in perfect synchronization.

  Lucas's attack connected with explosive force, a visible shockwave rippling through the air as his enhanced blow knocked the gunman backward. The criminal's weapon discharged wildly into the ceiling.

  Astra's telekinesis manifested as visible waves of energy, wrapping around the gun and wrenching it from the criminal's grasp with such precision that the trigger never deployed. The weapon flew into the air, spinning, before she slammed the gunman to the ground with another pulse of power, pinning his arms.

  "NOW!" Nathan commanded, his voice rising above the chaos.

  Officers surged forward, restraining the criminal as he struggled against Astra's telekinetic hold.

  Hostages scrambled back, expressions of terror turned into relief.

  Nathan tried to control his breathing. It worked. Not because of their powers, but because of their teamwork.

  The aftermath was swift. The remaining criminals fled under the cover of confusion. The hostages were safe. The damage was contained.

  Veteran heroes arrived, taking control. Praise was directed at Lucas and Astra. "Exceptional timing, great power control," they said. Nathan's name wasn't mentioned.

  Nathan stood back, hands in his pockets. He should've felt bitter, but he knew the truth.

  "We would've screwed that up without you," Lucas said.

  Astra simply nodded, her eyes saying more than words.

  Nathan exhaled, the tension leaving him. His power had failed, but he hadn't. His mind was his strength.

  In the debriefing room, veteran heroes dissected the operation with clinical precision. Success metrics, response times, civilian safety, all boxes checked. Nathan sat quietly, his mind elsewhere.

  Through the glass wall behind Commander Chen, a tech specialist was frantically working at a security terminal. Numbers and codes flashed across multiple screens, but one filename caught Nathan's eye: "SOVEREIGN_PROTOCOL." It appeared for just a moment before being buried under cascading data.

  His instincts prickled. The careful planning, the precise timing of the blackout, the targeted security breaches. It all pointed to something larger. This wasn't just a failed robbery; it was a test, a probe for weaknesses. And whoever was behind it now had what they wanted.

  After the briefing, Nathan found himself alone with Astra in the corridor. The fluorescent lights had finally flickered back to life, casting harsh shadows across their faces.

  "I froze up again," Nathan said, his voice low. "Every time Echo matters, when lives are actually on the line, I can't control it. It's like... like trying to grab smoke."

  Astra studied him for a moment, her expression softening. "You know what I saw in there? A leader who didn't need powers to save lives. But if Echo is something you want to master, then we'll help you. Me, Lucas, everyone, we'll train until you get it right."

  Nathan looked at his hands, remembering how they'd trembled when he'd tried to activate Echo. But he also remembered how steady they'd been when directing the team, when reading the situation, when trusting his instincts.

  "Yeah," he said, a small smile forming. "I'd like that."