The moment Chris lunged at X, the floor beneath him erupted.

BOOM!

A metallic giant landed in front of him.

A new bot. Sleek. Black. Pulsing with violet energy. And eyes glowing red like hellfire.

"Meet VANTA," X announced. “Fully AI. Fully loyal. Fully designed... to break you.”

VANTA attacked instantly.

Chris dodged the first strike, but the second clipped him — sending him crashing through the wall.

The battle exploded into the streets.

They tore through buildings.

Cars flipped. Glass shattered. Sirens screamed.

Chris was trying to protect civilians and fight at the same time — a losing game.

He took hit after hit. The bot’s moves were calculated. Brutal.

VANTA wasn’t like the others.

It adapted. It learned.

Every time Chris tried something new, VANTA countered it better.

His body ached. His breath was shallow.

People screamed around him.

VANTA fired a plasma beam — Chris blocked it with his body to save a child behind him.

He fell to one knee. Blood on his lip. Breathing heavy.

Then—

A WHISTLING SOUND overhead.

BOOM!

A massive blast from above blew VANTA’s arm clean off.

Chris looked up.

A sleek helicopter hovered in the sky.

And through the window...

Elara.
Hair windswept, eyes focused, face calm.

She had come back.

Chris stared in disbelief.

VANTA turned, screeching, preparing to fire.

Chris’s eyes lit.
All his power surged.

He roared, leaped forward—

And punched straight through the bot’s core.

The explosion rocked the block.

VANTA fell in pieces.

Smoke and sparks rained around him.

Chris panted. Kneeling. Broken. But victorious.

Then — footsteps.

“Chris?”
A voice he hadn’t heard in what felt like forever.

His mom. His dad. Alive. Free. Running to him.

He staggered forward. “H-How... how are you—?”

His mother smiled through tears. “That woman... the one in the chopper. She saved us.”

Chris turned, eyes wide.

Elara hovered above — looking down.

She smiled faintly.

Blew him a kiss.

Then turned the helicopter away.

The wind from the blades whipped his face as she disappeared into the clouds.

For a second...

Chris thought he’d never see her again.

Then—he heard it.

A sonic boom.

A streak of red and silver shot down from the sky.

Atomic Man.

Then another — glowing blue and gold.

Atomic Woman.

They landed beside him.

Atomic Woman looked at him, smiling.

“Looks like we’ve got another.”

Chris looked around — at the wreckage. The crowd. The awe.

His life would never be the same.