Violet stood motionless on the rooftop's edge, her enhanced senses dissecting the chaos below. The two men in the ambulance clung to life like infants gripping their mother's hands—desperate, instinctive. Blood's copper tang flooded her nostrils even at this height, sharp enough to make her throat burn.
She flexed her fingers, the reinforced tendons in her arms coiling like steel cables. *Superhuman* barely described her: bones denser than titanium, muscles firing with the precision of hydraulics, senses dialed to frequencies that turned whispers into shouts. She heard Kínitos' heartbeat first—a faltering *thud-thud-thud* drowned by the ambulance siren—then Monti's, quicker but thinning, like a wire about to snap.
Vex's voice crackled in her earpiece, clipped and tense. "Hospital. *Now*. We're losing the window."
Violet didn't nod. She *moved*. Her legs launched her skyward, the concrete beneath her boots cratering as she arced across the alley. Wind roared in her ears, but she filtered it out, focusing on the rhythmic *crunch* of her landings—each jump spanning half a block, each impact rattling dumpsters below. To bystanders, she'd be a blur, a shadow flickering under streetlights. To Vex, who monitored her via satellite feed, she was a calculated force.
"You said both died at the hospital last loop," Violet growled, leaping onto a billboard. The metal frame groaned under her weight.
"One dies en route. The other one dies at the hospital. We have been playing around to much and we don't got the option to save both." Vex's tone was clinical, but Violet heard the fraying edge beneath it.
"Reset. *Again*." presumed Violet
"That's your answer for everything?" Vex snapped. "It's not just energy—it's *risk*. Two loops in, and we've got nothing but corpses and a killer still loose."
"Yeah, you're right," said Violet sadly.
"Look we might be able to but we just got to wait and see," said Vex. She never liked snapping at Violet the boys where different. It was just difficult to explain but she did know her own abilities better then anyone else.
Violet's eyes narrowed. Five blocks ahead, the hospital's ER lights glared like a lighthouse. She inhaled, oxygen flooding her bloodstream as her pupils dilated, adjusting to the dark. Her vision sharpened—cracks in the asphalt, a moth trapped in a streetlamp, the sweat beading on the paramedic's brow inside the ambulance. She crouched, tendons tensing.
"How many resets?" she demanded.
"Two. Pattern's identical—transport death, then OR flatline." Vex paused. "You're stalling."
Violet *launched* herself. Air resistance flattened her dress against her body as she hit 54 mph in three strides. Rooftops blurred beneath her, her lungs compressing like pistons. She relished the burn in her calves, the way her joints absorbed impacts that would shatter normal bone.
"Slow today," Vex taunted.
Violet didn't grace that with a reply. Instead, she angled her trajectory upward, using a cell tower as a springboard. The metal bent under her kick, and she soared—a parabolic arc ending with a cat-quiet landing on the hospital's helipad.
Vex leaned against a vent, arms crossed. "Subtlety's dead, huh?"
"You wanted speed." Violet shrugged, though her voice softened. "His pulse is gone."
***
Inside the ambulance, Kínitos' eyelids fluttered. Monti gripped his hand, shouting over the siren. "Look at me! *Stay awake!*"
*I'm sorry…* Kínitos' thoughts dissolved into static. Cold crept up his legs, the paramedic's hands a distant pressure on his stomach. Blood soaked the gauze, warm and relentless. The medic cursed, tears cutting through sweat on his cheeks. "We're losing him!"
Violet turned her head slightly, her hypersensitive ears catching the flatline's drone before the monitor screamed.
"Clear!"
Kínitos' body jerked.
"Clear!"
Nothing.
"*Clear!*"
"Time of death—1:42 a.m."
***
Kínitos woke to sunlight. An endless meadow stretched around him, grass swaying in a breeze that carried the scent of rain. He collapsed, breathless, and stared at the clouds.
"Peaceful, isn't it?" The voice hummed like a plucked string—genderless, timeless.
He bolted upright. A glowing orb hovered before him, pulsing in time with his racing heart. "God…?"
"Just someone you know."
"Bullshit. I don't know sentient disco balls."
The orb brightened, amused. "I'm here to save you."
"I'm *dead*."
"Not yet. Your body's failing, but I can give you power—Paradox energy. You'll be unstoppable."
Kínitos laughed, the sound raw. "Hallucinating. Classic dying-brain crap—"
Light erupted, searing his vision.
***
Violet's head snapped toward the ER doors. Black smoke coiled from Kínitos' gurney as orderlies wheeled him inside. Monti swatted at the tendrils, his face pale. "Do you see that?!" he yelled at a nurse, who stared blankly.
Vex muttered a curse. "Manifesting publicly. *Fantastic*."
Violet's nostrils flared. The smoke reeked of ozone and decay, a stench her enhanced senses magnified tenfold. She gagged, clapping a hand over her mouth. "Monti sees it. Others don't."
"Which means the energy's tied to his perception. *Worse* than bad." Vex pulled out her phone, thumbs flying.
"Jade needs to know."
"Way ahead of you." Vex hit dial. "Jes? Make like premature ejaculation and come quick. Now." Vex demanded
Violet's ears twitched. Beneath the ER's chaos—beeping monitors, shouted orders—she detected a low *hum*. Her spine stiffened. "Vex. *Move.*"
She lunged, hooking an arm around Vex's waist. Her thighs tensed, and they shot upward, gravity clawing at them as they cleared seven stories in a breath. They landed hard, the roof trembling.
Vex staggered. "A little warning?!"
"Paradox surge. Felt it building." Violet pointed to Kínitos' room. Smoke now blackened the windows, tendrils lashing like living things.
Vex hissed. "Jes is en route." She typed furiously, her screen illuminating a contact: *Shit Face*.
Violet raised an eyebrow. "Jade?"
"He earned the name." Vex shuddered as a crash echoed below. Monti's scream ripped through the night.
***
Kínitos body shock as if a man an the electric chair. Light faded to reveal a sterile hospital room. Machines wailed as black energy crackled over his skin, his veins glowing like live wires.
Kínitos palms, shit out dark flames that rippled. Power thrummed in his chest, foreign and ferocious.
***
On the roof, Violet gripped the ledge, her enhanced vision tracking every flicker of energy around Kínitos. "He's getting worst much worst."
Vex pocketed her phone. "And we're out of time. if this continues where going to get abnormals"