The laboratory was in ruins.
Smoke curled toward the ceiling as sparks rained from shattered cables.
Scientists stood frozen behind the observation glass.
No one dared enter.
Omar stood alone in the center of the chamber.
Blue electricity crackled around his feet, leaving dark scorch marks on the steel floor.
He looked down at his hands.
The lightning wasn’t hurting him.
It felt…
Alive.
He slowly clenched his fist.
The electricity wrapped around his arm before disappearing beneath his skin.
“What… did you do to me?”
Dr. Sato stepped into the chamber, ignoring the protests from the scientists behind her.
She stopped several metres away.
“We unlocked your potential.”
Omar laughed bitterly.
“My potential doesn’t usually destroy buildings.”
“It wasn’t the building we were testing.”
His expression hardened.
“It was me.”
She didn’t answer.
Silence was answer enough.
⸻
Across the city, Rasheed couldn’t shake the feeling in his chest.
The blue flash had disappeared, but the strange pressure remained.
It was almost like…
Something had answered him.
He looked toward the horizon.
The sky was calm again.
No storm.
No clouds.
Yet he could still feel it.
His phone buzzed.
ADESewa: You awake?
RASHEED: Yeah.
A reply came almost immediately.
I just had another dream.
He stared at the message before typing.
The same one?
Several dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Finally—
No.
This one was worse.
⸻
The next morning, Omar woke inside a private medical suite.
His body felt surprisingly normal.
No pain.
No dizziness.
Only…
Energy.
It flowed through every muscle like an endless current.
He sat up.
The heart monitor beside him immediately malfunctioned.
Its screen filled with static before shutting off completely.
The room’s lights flickered.
A nurse rushed inside.
“Oh!”
She stopped.
“You should still be resting.”
“I feel fine.”
As he swung his legs off the bed, the metal frame groaned beneath his grip.
He looked down.
His fingerprints had been burned into the steel.
He quickly let go.
“I… didn’t mean to do that.”
The nurse pretended not to notice.
But fear flashed across her face.
⸻
Dr. Sato entered a few minutes later carrying a slim black case.
“You recovered faster than expected.”
“What happened to me?”
She placed the case on the table.
“You were exposed to a refined Chronal derivative.”
“English.”
She smiled faintly.
“It gave you abilities.”
“I figured that part out.”
He looked directly at her.
“Is there anyone else?”
Dr. Sato hesitated.
“There was another subject.”
Rasheed.
The name almost escaped her lips.
Instead, she answered carefully.
“Not one created the way you were.”
Omar noticed the wording.
Created.
Not born.
Not chosen.
Created.
“So I’m an experiment.”
“No.”
She met his eyes.
“You’re a pioneer.”
⸻
She opened the case.
Inside lay a sleek black athletic suit threaded with glowing blue lines.
The material shimmered under the room’s lights.
“It’s yours.”
Omar lifted it carefully.
It felt impossibly light.
“What is it made of?”
“A carbon-weave polymer infused with Chronal conductors.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
“It means…”
She smiled.
“…your powers won’t destroy it.”
He ran his hand across the chest.
A sharp emblem had been woven into the fabric.
A blue lightning bolt enclosed within a circle.
“It even has a logo.”
“Brand recognition matters.”
Omar frowned.
“So this is about marketing?”
“It’s about hope.”
She closed the case.
“The world fears what it doesn’t understand.”
“If they see someone wearing a symbol…”
“They’ll believe they understand.”
⸻
That afternoon, Rasheed met Adesewa beneath the old mango tree behind the school library.
She looked exhausted.
“You weren’t kidding.”
She handed him her sketchbook.
Every page showed the same city.
Broken.
Burning.
Covered by a crimson sky.
On the final page…
Two figures stood facing each other.
One surrounded by red lightning.
The other by blue.
Neither face had been drawn.
But Rasheed already knew.
A cold feeling settled in his stomach.
“Did you dream all of this?”
She nodded.
“Every night.”
She looked at him nervously.
“Do you think I’m losing my mind?”
Rasheed closed the sketchbook.
“No.”
He wasn’t ready to tell her the truth.
Because he barely understood it himself.
But one thing was becoming painfully clear.
Whatever was happening to him…
It was beginning to pull the people closest to him into its orbit.
⸻
That evening, Helix Dynamics opened the doors to a massive underground training arena.
Omar stepped inside wearing the blue suit for the first time.
It fit perfectly.
Almost like a second skin.
Rows of combat drones descended from the ceiling.
The Director’s voice echoed through hidden speakers.
“Show us what speed looks like.”
The drones activated.
Blue targeting lasers locked onto Omar.
He took a slow breath.
The electricity around his body intensified.
Then—
He vanished.
A deafening crack echoed through the arena.
One drone exploded.
Then another.
Then five more.
Within three seconds…
Every machine lay scattered across the floor in smoking pieces.
Omar stood in the center of the arena.
Not even breathing hard.
The Director watched from behind reinforced glass.
“Excellent.”
He turned toward Dr. Sato.
“What designation have you chosen?”
She looked down at Omar.
Then at the streaks of blue energy still dancing around him.
“Velocyte.”
The Director smiled.
“A fitting name.”
Far away, on the roof of an apartment building, Rasheed suddenly looked up.
For the briefest moment…
He felt another speedster running.
Not beside him.
Not nearby.
Somewhere else in the city.
Fast.
Powerful.
And getting stronger.